The Taiwan High Court yesterday heard the closing arguments of Taiwanese-Japanese singer Makiyo and her Japanese male acquaintance Takateru Tomoyori, who expressed deep remorse and pled for lighter sentences over a case in which they are accused of severely beating a taxi driver while drunk five months ago.
“I have learned my lessons from the incident, such as having better control of my emotions and behavior when intoxicated, and have remained sober for the past five months [since the case surfaced],” Makiyo, who was charged with intent to cause serious bodily harm, said in her closing argument.
Repeating her apology to family members of the taxi driver, Lin Yu-chun (林余駿), Makiyo asked the judge to offer her an opportunity to start over with a more lenient sentence, to allow her to work and support her family.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
She also made an open pledge to quit drinking, urging her friends “not to invite her for a drink in the future.”
Makiyo and Tomoyori were charged with assault after the pair was caught on video beating up Lin on Feb. 3, after Tomoyori allegedly refuse to buckle his seatbelt.
Following a widespread public outcry over their behavior and attempts to dodge responsibility, the pair later reached an out-of-court settlement of NT$3 million (US$101,700) with Lin.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office originally pressed charges against the pair of intent to cause serious physical injury and recommended stiff sentences, but the Taipei District Court, in light of the settlement and the belief that the two had not intended to cause such serious physical harm, in April imposed lighter sentences on grounds of common assault.
Makiyo was sentenced to 10 months in prison with three years of probation, while Tomoyori was given a one-year sentence with four years’ probation.
Prosecutors expressed their discontent with the rulings and said the district court’s lessening of the charges was inappropriate, so they appealed the court decision in May.
Takateru Tomoyori also presented his closing arguments yesterday. He confessed to assaulting Lin, who suffered two fractured ribs and serious head injuries, and expressed remorse for inflicting harm on the taxi driver and on society.
“I am truly sorry for my behavior,” Tomoyori said, expressing hope that the court would sentence him to probation.
The pair also reaffirmed that neither of them [committed the act] with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm or to kill, or were involved in any compulsive acts.
The court is scheduled to deliver a verdict in the case on Aug. 1.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS