The Taiwan High Court on Wednesday sentenced Tu Po-wen (杜博文) to 12 years in prison over a string of homosexual assaults committed against models in Taiwan and China, with one dying from an overdose.
The decision was a retrial of a case regarding the rape and death of 24-year-old Chinese male model Xiang Hai (項海) at a Wuhan City hotel in China two years ago.
The court in a retrial found Tu, 46, guilty of sexual assault and using “date rape” drug FM2 resulting in death.
The ruling can be appealed.
The first trial regarding Xiang’s death found Tu guilty and setenced him to 18 years and six months in prison, but in a second ruling last year after an appeal.
Tu was given a reduced term of 15 years, with the judge ruling that Tu had not known FM2 could cause death and he had only intended to render Xiang unconscious for the purpose of rape.
Tu and his lawyer lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court, with the judge finding contentious issues in the evidence used against Tu and ordered the high-court retrial.
Investigators said Tu was notorious for his use of FM2 and other date rape drugs mixed into drinks to render his victims, mostly handsome young men looking to get a start in a modeling career, incapacitated.
Before Tu was arrested two years ago, authorities in Taiwan and China tagged him as a “sex predator of male models,” with police records saying he raped at least 11 men.
Authorities say that there are likely a lot more victims, as Tu has traveled to Japan and Vietnam.
Police arrested Tu at his home in New Taipei City in 2014 based on evidence provided by Chinese public security agencies in connection with the rapes and Xiang’s death.
In separate trials, Tu was found guilty on two counts of using a category 3 illicit drug on people, as well as sexual assault charges.
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