The New Taipei District Court yesterday found Su Chien-hua (蘇建華), 35, and his wife, Hsu Ya-chu (許雅筑), 32, guilty of sexual assault, fraud, attempted fraud and forced indecent assault, handing down a 27 year, 6 month prison term for Su and a 22-year term to Hsu.
It was the first ruling on the case and it can be appealed.
Prosecutors said Su claimed to be a holy man and he took the title the “Dragon King” (龍王), as he and his wife operated a shrine at his residence in New Taipei City’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), starting in 2013.
Borrowing religious practices and rituals from Taoist-Buddhist mystical sects, Su deceived worshipers into believing that he had divine powers and that he could communicate with the spiritual realm, the indictment said.
It said Su duped at least 13 female worshipers into engaging in sex with him by telling them that they were cursed with bad fortune, or were possessed by evil spirits, and that he had the divine power to rid them of the malevolent forces.
Su was found to have conducted so-called “one-on-one sessions” with female worshipers, in which the woman was told to strip naked, then Su drew Taoist esoteric drawings and performed his own “rituals” on the woman’s body.
After that, he would touch and massage the woman’s body, then would have sex with the victim, the indictment said.
Su and his wife also allegedly demanded that worshipers pay monthly “offerings” and provide signed checks as financial donations to the “Dragon King,” in return for which Su promised spiritual protection and good fortune.
The indictment said that the couple received a total of NT$3.18 million (US$94,923) from their victims, while the signed checks amounted to more than NT$10 billion when the case came to light in April last year.
The court yesterday said Su and his wife had “desecrated religion.”
“The couple operated the shrine as their main occupation... which they used to defraud money and mislead worshipers,” the ruling said.
“The couple took advantage of the victims’ beliefs in traditional folk religion, and their desire to change and renew their lives, whereby Su made numerous sexual assaults on the female victims, resulting in mental and physical harm to the victims,” it said.
The couple also secretly filmed Su’s sexual activities with female worshipers, violating the privacy of the victims, and the couple had shown no remorse for their crimes during the investigation, the ruling said.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all