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
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