Prosecutors on Friday charged three educators with child abuse, closing a two-year investigation into allegations of harsh treatment and physical punishment of toddlers at a Taipei kindergarten.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office filed charges citing Offenses Against Children’s Development (妨礙幼童發育罪) and other related offenses against the kindergarten owner, a woman surnamed Lin (林), and two female teachers, surnamed Liu (劉) and Chin (金).
Suspicions of abuse first surfaced in 2014, when parents frequently found bruises and injuries, including broken fingers, on their children after returning home from the school.
With Taipei City councilors’ assistance, the parents held a news conference to voice their accusations.
Allegations were made against the owner and teachers of an independent franchisee of Happy Marian, a bilingual kindergarten chain in Taipei which offers English instruction for toddlers.
The kindergarten has since closed, and has been replaced by a cram school.
Among the alleged victims is a child surnamed Liang (梁), whose parents enrolled him in the kindergarten from the ages of 2 to 9, ending in 2013, where he allegedly underwent frequent abuse for the entire period, prosecutors said.
“My son always had bruises and injuries, but the school teachers said he was a hyperactive kid. When other allegations were reported, my son told me everything that had happened, and how he got those injuries,” Liang’s father said.
“My son has suffered trauma and emotional disturbance and is receiving counseling. He is only now recovering from his psychological wounds,” he said.
Testimonies from Liang and other children accused Lin and the two teachers of grabbing the children by the ankles and tossing them around, forcing them to take cold showers during winter if students had wet their pants, pushing their heads into a bucket of water, slapping them with rulers, ordering them to leap repeatedly with bent knees, pulling out eyebrow hairs, spraying alcohol into students’ eyes and forcing Liang to wear girls’ clothing.
Liang’s father said his son and other children were intimidated to remain silent about what had taken place under threat of further punishment, so they kept the secret for years, telling their parents the injuries were caused by falling down while running.
Prosecutors said after finding evidence of abuse and corroborating testimonies from the children and other witnesses, they had grounds for criminal prosecution and subsequently filed charges against the suspects.
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