A spiritual retreat organization leader was ordered to be detained yesterday by the Shilin District Court on suspicion of raping a female member’s 11-year-old daughter.
The Taiwan High Court had on Friday revoked the Shilin District Court’s first decision to release on bail Ouyang Hsien (歐陽顯), 67, who was charged with 17 sexual offenses against the 11-year-old girl.
The girl’s mother surnamed Su (蘇), aged in her 40s, was released on NT$300,000 bail.
The court said Ouyang denied he raped the girl, saying he suffers from a sexual malfunction and cannot have sex.
His attorney said Ouyang will appeal the detention ruling.
The court said Ouyang and Su admitted the girl performed oral sex on Ouyang in a motel in Shilin, saying the girl did it of her own free will.
Ouyang reportedly engaged in sexual relations with mother and daughter under the pretense of “transferring energy into the female body to improve their health.”
Ouyang is a self-proclaimed guru and founded the Tao Chih Men Living Academy (道之門生活學堂) 10 years ago.
The academy’s name, Tao Chih Men, means “the gateway to Tao,” but the academy is not Taoist.
The case caused a public outcry when the Shilin court on Dec. 18 released Ouyang and Su on NT$150,000 and NT$100,000 bail respectively, and placed no restriction on their movements, including any prohibition on leaving the country.
Child welfare activists said the court had set free a sexual predator and that Ouyang was likely to flee or threaten the child to change her testimony.
After separating from her estranged husband in May last year, the woman took her daughter to meet with Ouyang at least once a month, prosecutors said.
The girl wrote in her diary: “My body feels dirty” and “I am full of hate and am contemplating suicide,” prosecutors said.
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