The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a High Court decision to convict former lawmaker Fung Hu-hsiang (馮滬祥) of raping a Philippine caregiver, and sentenced him to three years and four months in prison.
According to the verdict, the former New Party legislator raped the woman, who was hired by his family, at his home in Taipei in 2004. After the rape, she contacted a friend, who informed the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei of the abuse.
An employee from the office accompanied her to a local hospital for treatment and the hospital reported the rape to the police, according to the court.
The woman returned to the Philippines after signing an NT$800,000 settlement agreement with Fung.
In the first and second trials and the first retrial, Fung was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of rape. In the second retrial, he was sentenced to one year on charges of taking advantage of his authority to have sex with someone, but the prison term was reduced to six months, with the penalties commutable to a fine.
In the third and fourth retrials, Fung was found not guilty after the woman retreacted her original police report and denied that she had been raped. However, Fung was again sentenced to four years at the fifth retrial.
In the sixth retrial, the Taiwan High Court found Fung guilty and sentenced him to three years and four months in prison.
The Supreme Court’s verdict on Friday is final.
In a statement issued on Friday, Fung accused the Democratic Progressive Party government of political revenge and judicial persecution, and said the verdict is meant to damage his reputation.
He said he is innocent and accused the police of framing him.
Fung said he would serve his prison term regarding the act as a kind of “[religious] training,” and hopes that his compatriots would continue to work for the cause of “revitalizing Chunghwa [China]” in spite of the oppression of the “Taiwanese independence forces,” adding that he firmly believes that “unification [with China] will definitely win and Taiwanese independence will lose.”
He said he is proud to “sacrifice for the grand mission of unification with China.”
Additional Reporting by Hsiang Cheng-chen
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS