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.
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