The Hsinchu City Police Department yesterday launched an investigation into a 58-year-old woman surnamed Li (黎) who allegedly castrated her recently divorced husband, surnamed Chen (陳), and attempted suicide after the act.
Li on Wednesday allegedly castrated Chen with a pair of scissors hidden under the mattress after seducing him and then flushed the castrated penis and testes down the toilet, police said.
Li allegedly then threatened to douse Chen with hydrochloric acid when he blockaded himself inside the bathroom and called for help, police said.
Chen and Li have known each other for many years before they were married and they divorced on Monday, a source said.
Despite the divorce, the couple still lived together.
They both had children from previous marriages, the source said.
Li accused Chen of being lazy, and of indulging in gambling and drinking while living off her hard-earned money and having extramarital affairs, the source said.
Li’s Facebook page has shared many articles on the feelings of lament, anger and despair that abandoned women tend to experience, as well as comments to herself to stay strong and to treat herself better, police said.
There is also a complaint of domestic abuse on record and applications from both parties for restraining orders as a result of Li accusing Chen of having an affair with a female fellow gambler.
Neighbors told police they heard an argument between Li and Chen on Monday during which Li told Chen to “get out.”
The neighbors said that Li provided all the household income, was a nice woman and a good housewife, and that she frequented community events, police said.
The neighbors said that Chen was either drunk or gambling most of the time, police said.
Both Chen and Li have been hospitalized and are in good health, police said, adding that they would take an affidavit from both parties at a later date.
Even if the castrated penis and testes had been recovered, the possibility of restoring the organ to normal functionality was unlikely, as the wound had already been infected, doctors said.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software