Chan Hui-hua (
According to Taipei Prosecutor Kuo Yung-fa's (郭永發) indictment -- based on earlier testimony from Chan and Yu -- Chan was addicted to gambling and had debts, which was a motivation for her to plan to extort money from Huang. She allegedly called Huang on Dec. 26, last year and made an appointment with him at Grand Hyatt Taipei to discuss possible solutions to Chan's mother's monetary problems.
The indictment says that Huang arrived and met Chan in the hotel room. Afterwards, Chan and Yu allegedly fed Huang drugs and called two prostitutes "Hsuan-hsuan" (萱萱) and "Hsiao-min" (小敏) to the hotel room for a sex party.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
However, the indictment says that Huang fell unconscious after he took the drugs, so Chan and Yu then took NT$13,000 from Huang's wallet and gave it to Chu and Tsui as payment and asked them to leave.
Kuo's indictment then says that Yu tied Huang up on the bed and pointed a toy pistol at Huang while demanding the PIN number for his ATM card. Chan then allegedly used the card to withdraw a total of NT$800,000 while Huang was detained from Dec. 27 to Dec. 31.
Kuo is seeking a 10-year sentence for Chan on charges of solicitation and robbery. Yu was charged for robbery as well but the prosecutor did not recommend a sentence for Yu because Yu, who has agreed to testify against Chan in the trial, is a witness under the protection of the Witness Protection Law (證人保護法). According to the law, the prosecutor must leave any sentencing decisions regarding Yu up to the discretion of the judge.
At the hearing, both Chan and Yu contradicted the prosecutor's indictment.
Chan told Judge Huang Kuei-hsing (黃桂興) that she was not addicted to gambling so she was not in any financial trouble. Chan also said that Huang came to the hotel room for a sex party and that there was no kidnapping or robbery.
"I don't need his money," she said. "I can provide my account information to prove my words. I did not rob him. I withdrew his money under his authorization."
She also said that it was Huang who brought the drugs.
"What I fed him was actually the antidote for the drug he took," she said.
The judge asked her why she knew it was the antidote and where she got it.
"Huang brought it from Hong Kong. He once gave me the same antidote after I took the same drug, so I knew what it was," she said.
Chan said that she met Huang in 1999 and that they soon began having what she called "sex parties" almost every day at different high-class hotels in Taipei.
Chan also said that Huang always brought his own drugs and would ask her to take them with him.
"I have witnesses to prove my words if necessary," she said.
As for the NT$13,000 from Huang's wallet, Chan said that it was actually from "her own purse."
"Yu told me that he and my brother owed [Hsuan-hsuan], the prostitute, that amount and asked me to pay her then," Chan said.
Yu also changed his testimony and seemed to corroborate Chan's account of the story.
Yu explained that the NT$13,000 was unrelated to the case.
"It had nothing to do with this case and we did not rob Huang since it was Chan's money," Yu sa
He also said that he fabricated his earlier confession.
"Again, we did not rob him. I was just saying what the prosecutor wanted to hear," he said. "It seemed to me that prosecutors only wanted to hear whatever was good for Huang. For me, I just wanted to get out from the Taipei Detention House as soon as possible."
Yu also denied that he ever used a toy pistol to threaten Huang for his PIN number.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a