The Taipei Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday charged a Taipei couple with abusing their domestic worker.
The husband, surnamed Lee (李), and his wife, surnamed Yang (楊), allegedly abused the Indonesian worker, nicknamed “A-siang,” for about seven months, prosecutors said.
The abuse occurred for an extended period because A-siang was reluctant to alert the authorities, as she had absconded from her previous job, they said.
Photo: Wu Cheng-feng, Taipei Times
The couple hired A-siang in April last year to work at residences they owned in Tianmu (天母) and Dazhi (大直).
They allegedly started beating her in December, after reportedly being dissatisfied with her work and attitude, the prosecutors said, adding that the alleged abuse continued until A-siang fled.
The alleged beatings were also reported on the Facebook group Baoliao Gongshe (爆料公社) in June, they said.
A medical examination found that A-siang had pierced eardrums, blurred vision and cataracts, eye damage, deformed lips, broken teeth and other injuries to her face and body caused by physical trauma.
A-siang said the couple poured hot water on her, scalded her skin with a garment steamer and blew hot air on her face with a hair dryer, and also kicked her in the groin and the upper thighs.
When she started working for the couple, they took her passport, personal documents, cellphone and some of her cash for “safekeeping,” she said.
They also installed surveillance cameras to monitor her movements and arbitrarily docked her pay, forcing her into debt, she said.
The couple also forced her to eat their pet dog’s feces, A-siang said.
They demanded that she perform better at work, saying that otherwise they would have gangsters beat her family, she said.
She also accused the couple of threatening to kill her by throwing her off the top of the Tianmu high-rise where the couple had an apartment.
Prosecutors said that an investigation found sufficient evidence of physical abuse.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
A British man was arrested for attempting to smuggle 14.37kg of marijuana into Taiwan through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei Customs said late yesterday. The man, who arrived from Bangkok at 9pm on Friday, was asked by customs officers to open his luggage during a random inspection, Taipei Customs said in a news release. The passenger, whose identity was not disclosed, refused to open his suitcase and tried to flee the restricted area. He was eventually subdued by three customs officials and an Aviation Police Bureau officer. A later search of his checked luggage uncovered 14.37kg of marijuana buds. The case was handed over
RSS