Wu Chun-li (吳春麗), a prosecutor at Taipei District Prosecutors' Office (台北地檢署), yesterday decided not to prosecute Wu Yung-chi (吳永吉) and Tu Wen-hsiang (杜文祥) -- both 31-year-old members of the popular five-man rock band The Chairman (董事長樂團) -- and their friend Tsou Yung-tai (鄒永泰) for gang raping a young woman, local media reported.
The three were previously accused of sexually harassing and gang raping a young woman on the morning of Jan. 30.
According to police, the victim, a hostess at a bar in Taipei, was invited to a hotel room by the three men on Jan. 30. While drinking in the room, the three allegedly stripped her, forced her to perform oral sex on them and then gang raped her.
On Feb. 6, results of a DNA test confirmed that semen found on a hotel bedsheet and on the victim's body was from Wu.
Wu, however, insisted that they were innocent. "I was just masturbating in front of her," Wu said.
According to the prosecutor yesterday, the victim changed her testimony on Jan. 31 and confirmed the men's story. She admitted that she was Tsou's girlfriend and had lied to police to get revenge on Tsou after fighting with him that night.
Although the woman later claimed that she changed her story because of pressure from a lawmaker, the prosecutor thought her testimony was unreliable and decided not to prosecute the three men.
"Wu's semen was only found on her belly, not inside her vagina," the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor, however, did not comment on rumors that independent legislator Lin Ruey-tou (林瑞圖) had helped the band members work out a private settlement by paying the woman NT$500,000 to change her testimony.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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