The parents of elementary children allegedly sexually abused by a teacher surnamed Hsieh (謝) yesterday accused the school’s principal of trying to cover up the affair and asked the public for help in taking legal action.
The scandal broke in 2007 when the mother of a student at Taichung’s Shang-an Elementary School overheard children talking about the teacher and learned that her child was a possible victim.
“I immediately took my child to the principal and she promised she would take care of the matter,” the mother — who only wished to be known as “Parent A” — told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
However, rather than report the alleged sexual abuse to government agencies within 24 hours for investigation — as required by law — the principal, Hu Shu-chuan (胡淑娟), asked Hsieh to take a long leave and helped him transfer to a nearby school, she said.
The father of a second victim who wished to be known as “Parent B” said the principal asked him not to file a lawsuit against Hsieh, saying he was still young and that it would destroy his career, adding that the parents of two other victims had agreed not to sue.
“She [the principal] said she would ask Hsieh to transfer to another school,” he said. “I refused to go along with this.”
“How can I allow Hsieh to go to another school and abuse more children there?” he asked, adding that after getting in touch with the parents of the other victims he realized that they had not reached an agreement with Hu, nor had they decided not to sue Hsieh.
“Parent B” said his child also informed him that Hsieh not only sexually abused the children, but also took pictures of them while they were being abused.
“I went talk to the principal and she told me she had deleted the pictures,” “Parent B” said. “Hu didn’t tell us the whole story and she destroyed some important evidence by deleting the pictures.”
After talking to more parents, “Parent A” and “Parent B” said they discovered that more children — possibly as many as 10 — had been sexually abused by Hsieh.
Parents of four victims have filed lawsuits against Hsieh and against the school.
Although the parents won the case in the first instance, the verdict against Hsieh and the school was overturned by a higher court, with the judge ruling that the two lawsuits should be filed separately.
As the parents now face NT$290,000 in legal fees, Humanistic Education Foundation executive director Joanna Feng (馮喬蘭), who accompanied the parents at the news conference, called on the public to help by donating NT$100 each to the families.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS