Portly socialite Chu Chia-lung (朱家龍) was identified in court as the one who provided illegal drugs and paid for a VIP suite as preliminary proceedings began on Thursday and continued yesterday in the trial following the death of a young woman after a party at the W Hotel in Taipei in December last year.
The Taipei District Court summoned 26-year-old Chu and two other suspects, Hung Sheng-yan (洪聖晏) and Tsai Yi-hsueh (蔡逸學), along with other witnesses.
Chu told the court he paid NT$50,000 as a deposit to the W Hotel for nearly a week’s use of a VIP suite and held a party there from Dec. 2 to Dec. 7.
Room charges were deducted from the deposit and he paid for additional days, as he and his associates often did, Chu said.
The court heard testimony that drugs were purchased and young women were in attendance, allegedly offering sexual services.
Chu said he often booked private suites at upscale hotels in Taipei where he and his friends would drink alcohol and organize entertainment.
A woman surnamed Kuo (郭) overdosed on drugs and died following one such event in December last year.
Judicial proceedings are focused on her death, and who is responsible for the supply and purchase of the drugs.
Hung told the court that Chu gave him NT$8,000 and instructed him to pick up 20 pouches of “coffee powder,” which contained a mixture of amphetamines and stimulants.
Investigators said the pouches were allegedly purchased from Chiang Che-wei (江哲瑋), who is known to Chu, Hung and Tsai.
Other partygoers said that Chiang was an acquaintance of Chu and that Chu paid for the drugs.
However, Chu denied that he had paid for the drugs.
He said Hung and Tsai asked for there to be drugs at the party.
Chu said he should not be seen as a party person, as he has a master’s degree in economics and works as an administrative assistant at his father’s garment business.
Hung’s lawyer said there was no direct link between his client and Kuo’s death.
Kuo was responsible for her own demise, as she knew that there would be alcohol and drugs at the party, the lawyer said.
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