The High Court on Wednesday handed down a 15-year sentence to Tu Po-wen (杜博文), 45, for a string of homosexual assaults committed against models in Taiwan and China.
The ruling can be appealed.
Police said Tu was notorious for his use of “date rape” drugs mixed into drinks to render people incapacitated or unconscious, when Tu would commit sexual assaults.
Before he was arrested two years ago, authorities in Taiwan and China tagged him as a “sex predator of male models,” with police records saying he raped at least 11 men, although there are likely far more victims, as Tu had traveled to Japan and Vietnam.
Police arrested Tu at his home in New Taipei City in 2014 based on evidence provided by Chinese public security agencies, as Tu was wanted for rape and in connection to the drug overdose death of Xiang Hai (項海), 24, a rising young star in the China’s modeling industry.
At that time, the arrest was touted as a successful collaboration between Taiwan and China according to the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement (海峽兩岸共同打擊犯罪及司法互助協議), with officers from both sides working together on the case.
Xiang’s death in February 2014 led to a police investigation in Wuhan, China, with forensic evidence from the crime scene sent to Taiwan to bolster the case against Tu.
In August last year, Taipei’s Shilin District Court found Tu guilty of using illegal drugs and sexual assault before Xiang’s death and handed him a 18-and-a-half-year prison term in the first ruling.
Taiwanese authorities had a file on him dating to 2006, suspecting Tu of surfing dating Web sites to make contact with men.
He was reported to police over a sex crime after Tu allegedly mixed drugs into a glass of beer and raped his date after he fell unconscious.
Tu reached an out-of-court settlement in that case and moved to China.
After his latest arrest, Tu said he was taking advantage of a legal loophole, with Chinese law not worded explicitly regarding homosexual acts.
Tu said he believed his actions did not constitute rape.
Chinese investigators said Tu posed as a TV producer scouting for talent for entertainment shows, enticing aspiring Chinese male models to meetings then taking them to a hotel room the on pretense of interviews or photo shoots.
Chinese authorities began to track Tu when a man surnamed Xu (許) in Guangzhou, China, reported to police that he met with Tu in September 2011 after being promised a role in a TV commercial, but he lost consciousness after drinking a beer, and believed that he had been raped.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost