Taichung prosecutors are investigating the case of a seven-year-old boy who is in a deep coma after his judo instructor allegedly threw him to the ground 27 times during training on Wednesday.
The instructor, surnamed Ho (何), was initially released without bail yesterday, after prosecutors questioned him and reviewed video footage, they said.
The boy’s father, surnamed Huang (黃), decried the decision, saying that Ho should be detained because he “deliberately killed a helpless child.”
Later last night, Ho was detained after prosecutors conducted another round of questioning.
Footage from the judo gym shows Ho and others repeatedly performing a shoulder throw on the boy, despite him being unable to stand and begging them to stop.
Prosecutors cited Ho as saying that “it was a normal judo lesson. We did not use inappropriate force and had no idea that he sustained grave injuries.”
A doctor at a hospital to which the boy was admitted on Friday said that he was unconscious upon arrival, and had seizures.
The boy also had cerebral hemorrhaging, which made emergency surgery necessary, the doctor said, adding that he is in intensive care and has unstable vital signs.
He is in a near brain-dead condition, the doctor said.
The boy’s parents have requested charges against Ho for negligence resulting in injuries, prosecutors said.
The Chinese Taipei Judo Federation, the sport’s national governing body, said that Ho does not have a license issued by the federation or any other qualification to teach judo.
It said that the footage showed Ho engaging in exercises that are “definitely … not the way to teach children.”
The federation has regulations concerning the use of force to the neck and head of children “to ensure safety and protect the trainees,” it said, urging parents to only send their children to gyms that follow the regulations and have qualified staff.
The federation has been accused of not doing enough to ensure the quality of judo training and was criticized that it took two days for it to respond to the incident.
The federation said it would increase inspections at gyms, and offer better and more selective training programs for instructors.
The instructor has allegedly been teaching children for 10 years.
This story has been updated since it was first published.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS