A man suspected of causing a scare by marking shoes belonging to women in a community in Taichung’s Shalu District (沙鹿) likely has a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a psychiatrist said.
Police said that the man, surnamed Lin (林), faces charges of trespassing and damaging personal property.
Lin, 23, works at a fish market in Taichung, and is married with two children, police said on May 19.
In March, in a community near Providence University, where many female university students rent apartments, women began to notice black dots on their shoes, police said, adding that they were scared that their shoes were being marked by would-be assailants.
Investigators found that Lin had lived in the community and after moving out allegedly retained the magnetic access card.
Records showed that he went there on March 22, when he apparently used a black marker to draw dots on the sides of shoes, investigators said.
Lin allegedly only marked shoes belonging to women, they said, adding that the dots corresponded to the shoe size, with a size 23 shoe having two plus three dots on it, for example.
Commenting on the case, Wen Wei-chun (溫偉鈞), a psychiatrist in Taichung, said that Lin could have obsessive-compulsive disorder.
If a student always places a cup of water at a specific spot on their desk when studying, or a person needs to check that the gas valve and windows are closed several times before leaving the house, they are showing signs of the disorder, Wen said.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder might only affect the sufferer, but other people would see it as odd behavior, he said.
When such behavior seriously interferes in a person’s life or the lives of others — for example if they continuously wash their hands, despite having already harmed their hands by over-washing, or have to check the gas valve so often that they are always late or are afraid of leaving their home — they need professional treatment, Wen said.
If people know of someone with such problems they should try to get that person to visit a psychiatrist or neurology specialist, Wen added.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS