An itchy groin landed a man in trouble after he was accused of being a pervert by a woman, who thought the man was masturbating while reading a book at a Taipei bookstore.
After an investigation by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, the criminal case against the 30-something man, surnamed Chang (張), was dropped on Tuesday.
The incident occurred in September last year, when a woman, surnamed Weng (翁), visited the Eslite Bookstore in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) with her two daughters.
Weng left her nine-year-old daughter to read by herself at the children’s book section on the fifth floor, and took her younger daughter with her to browse the cookbook section on another floor.
After a while, Weng returned to the fifth floor, where she found Chang sitting diagonally across from her daughter while reading a book.
She said the man had put one hand down his pants and was moving it about in the groin area.
Thinking the man was masturbating, Weng yelled at him: “What are you doing? You sick pervert!”
Chang later said he was embarrassed, so he fled the scene.
Weng reported the incident to the police, looking to press charges against the man.
Afterward, she posted the incident online, describing the man, as “about 1.65m, slightly plump figure,” and accused him of masturbating in the bookstore while looking at her daughter.
The woman reminded parents to watch out and warned people about the man she saw at the bookstore.
Many netizens were disgusted, and some said they were horrified by the man’s behavior.
After reviewing the bookstore’s surveillance camera footage, police were able to track Chang down.
He was accused of an offense against sexual morality (妨害風化罪).
Chang insisted he was innocent.
“It was a misunderstanding. I was not masturbating. I was scratching my private parts, because I had a really bad rash around my groin. It was very itchy, so I had to scratch it,” Chang was quoted by prosecutors as saying.
Chang also provided supporting evidence, including a doctor’s report of his treatment for a groin rash, and presented photographs showing that he had a serious case of pustular rash around his groin.
Prosecutors were able to verify the medical reports, as Chang has sought treatment and received medication for his rash.
After examining the videotape of the incident, prosecutors found that Chang had not exposed his genitals and dropped all charges against him on Tuesday.
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