A woman in Pingtung County surnamed Chu (朱) has been fined NT$1,000 by the Pingtung District Court for stealing scallions grown by her neighbor.
Although Chu committed what some might consider a minor crime, because the victim — a woman surnamed Yin (尹) — had often experienced theft, she could not forgive her, Pingtung Chief District Prosecutor Chen Yi-li (陳怡利) said on June 5.
As the two parties had not reached a settlement, the prosecutor requested a summary sentence after taking into consideration the defendant’s attitude and the victim’s feelings, Chen said, adding that the value of the stolen vegetable was not the main basis for the judgement.
Photo: Lee Li-fa, Taipei Times
The case dates to July last year, when Yin called the police after discovering that scallions she had planted in front of her house were being stolen.
The police checked footage from a surveillance camera at an intersection and found someone had parked a motorcycle in front of Yin’s home and left after pulling up a plant.
After tracing the vehicle’s license plate, police identified the rider as Chu, who lives across from Yin.
According to the court’s ruling, which was issued on Feb. 26, the fine can be commuted to community service.
Some legal experts said that the prosecutor should not have brought charges or should have deferred prosecution, arguing that there is no need to consume judicial resources on such a minor incident.
The court could have granted probation and given the defendant a chance to correct her mistake, they said.
Prosecutors should make good use of discretion allowed by the law in such minor crimes, they said.
Prosecutors are granted discretion to not prosecute a case under Article 253 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法).
The article says that if a prosecutor deems it appropriate not to prosecute a case, as described in subparagraphs of the first paragraph of Article 376, they may issue a disposition of dismissal, after taking into consideration items in Article 57 of the Criminal Code, which include motive, purpose and means of the offense, among other issues.
The offenses described in Article 376 include ones that carry a maximum penalty of less than three years in prison or a fine, including larceny, embezzlement, fraud, breach of trust, extortion and accepting stolen property.
Yin called the police because she was upset, members of her family said, adding that they were surprised when Chu was identified.
As they are neighbors, Chu could have asked if she wanted scallions, they said, adding that it was not up to them how prosecutors and the court handled the case.
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