The Shilin District Court yesterday convicted four Singaporean university students of sexual assault and handed down suspended sentences that would see them avoid prison time, but with conditions preventing them from leaving the nation until their probation expires.
The four were originally sentenced to jail terms of between 20 and 23 months, but the judges suspended the sentences and gave probation of four years for two of them and five years for the other two.
As it was the first ruling on the case, the defendants can appeal the court’s decision.
Photo: Huang chieh, Taipei Times
After a late night of revelry and drinking by the four in December last year, two Taiwanese women said they were raped by the group.
Lau Wei Seng (劉瑋城) was an exchange student at a university in Taipei, while the other three are friends who were reportedly enrolled at universities in Singapore.
The three friends were identified by Singaporean newspaper the Straits Times as Bryan Ong Kun Jun (王琨駿), Tan Juan Yin (陳俊穎) and Lim Wei Xuan (林煒軒).
All four were aged 23 at the time.
Lau testified that he invited the three from Singapore for a visit, with the group touring around the nation before ending the trip at a bed-and-breakfast in Taipei, where the alleged sexual assault took place.
The judges cited an agreement by the four men to pay financial compensation of an undisclosed amount to the two women as justification for the suspended sentences.
The two victims have agreed to the private settlement and reportedly said they were willing to forgive the four men and not pursue the case further, the court ruling said.
While the suspended sentences mean the four men do not have to serve time in prison, their probation requires them to remain in Taiwan until their terms expire, as the judges imposed protective control measures.
The measures require the four to regularly report their activities and whereabouts to probation officers, and any further infraction of the law would see the suspension lifted.
Lau reportedly met one of the women, known as “Siao Fang” (小芳), at a nightclub in Taipei on Dec. 11, and later invited her back to the group’s lodgings to party with his friends.
Siao Fang reportedly invited a friend to the party, drinking late into the night.
Afterward, the two women accused the men of forcing them to have sex while they were inebriated, despite their objections.
The defense said it was consensual sex between adults, quoting Siao Fang as saying that they could have sex with her, but “please don’t hurt my friend.”
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
More than 8,000 people took part in a rally in Taipei yesterday to express support for more defense spending, after the opposition slashed the Cabinet’s proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.6 billion) special defense budget and capped it at NT$780 billion. The demonstrators urged the Cabinet to propose another bill. Taiwan Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said the main problem of the passed budget plan is the removal of funding for critical items, not just that the total amount is smaller. Critical budget items included purchasing or developing uncrewed vehicles, Strong Bow (強弓) missile systems, additional ammunition, artificial intelligence-powered combat systems and Taiwan-US
RSS