The Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday decided against charging cram-school teacher Chen Kuo-hsing (陳國星) with rape because of insufficient evidence.
The parents of deceased writer Lin Yi-han (林奕含) had said they believe Lin’s mental illness and death by suicide on April 27 was the result of sexual abuse by Chen years earlier.
They said that Lin’s sole published novel, Fang Ssu-chi’s First Love Paradise (房思琪的初戀樂園), a story of a young girl who was raped by her teacher, was drawn from her own experience.
Photo copied by Wang Chun-chung, Taipei Times
On May 1, Tainan prosecutors launched an investigation into Chen, including his alleged assault of Lin and other unidentified victims, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Chen Chien-hung (陳建弘) told a news conference.
The office had called Chen Kuo-hsing and 27 witnesses for questioning, but found no evidence to support an indictment, Chen Chien-hung said.
The office had launched an investigation amid public calls for justice, but Lin’s parents declined to press charges when contacted by the office, he said.
No potential victims or individuals with direct knowledge of potential victims had come forward, he added.
As Lin is dead, the prosecution must rely on the objective examination of direct and indirect evidence to substantiate the opposing claims of the accusers and Chen Kuo-hsing, he said.
The charge of sex with a minor cannot be sustained because phone records — collaborated by testimony from Lin’s classmates — showed that Lin did not have relations with Chen Kuo-hsing before she was 16, he said.
The charge of sexual coercion by abusing authority cannot be established since the physical relationship between Lin and Chen Kuo-hsing happened after Lin left the cram school, he said.
Lin’s medical record was subpoenaed and examined by prosectors and they found no evidence suggesting Lin had ever asked for forensic documentation of injury or sexual assault from any hospital, he said.
Furthermore, Lin’s characterization of the relationship as recorded by her psychiatrist’s notes are inconsistent, which she had described as “coercive” in one case and “merely a romance” in another, Chen Chien-hung said.
“The investigation did not reveal objective and positive evidence to substantiate the subjective speculations of the accusing parties, and there are no sufficient grounds to proceed with the case,” he said.
Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) said while a court of law might lack evidence to try Chen Kuo-hsing, he bears moral responsibility for his actions that led to Lin’s traumatization and suicide.
“Chen Kuo-hsing will have to live with his guilty conscience,” Lai said.
National Taiwan University professor of law Lee Mau-sheng (李茂生) said on Facebook: “Anyone with a superficial knowledge of criminal procedures would have known this was a foregone conclusion.”
The investigation was conducted to calm an indignant public and the prosecutors’ explanation for filing charges are likely the point of the exercise, Lee said.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
BACK TO WORK? Prosecutors said they are considering filing an appeal, while the Hsinchu City Government said it has applied for Ann Kao’s reinstatement as mayor The High Court yesterday found suspended Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) not guilty of embezzling assistant fees, reducing her sentence to six months in prison commutable to a fine from seven years and four months. The verdict acquitted Kao of the corruption charge, but found her guilty of causing a public official to commit document forgery. The High Prosecutors’ Office said it is reviewing the ruling and considering whether to file an appeal. The Taipei District Court in July last year sentenced Kao to seven years and four months in prison, along with a four-year deprivation of civil rights, for contravening the Anti-Corruption
RSS