The Taipei District Court on Thursday sentenced a male teacher at a Taipei elementary school to more than three years in jail for the sexual abuse of a pre-teen girl, and ordered the school to pay financial compensation to the parents.
The court filing said that man, surnamed Huang (黃), was a teacher and a sports coach for the girl’s class at the Taipei elementary school, and took advantage of his authority with regards to the girl’s care.
An investigation said an intimate relationship began when the girl was about 11 or 12 years old, from October 2016 to June the following year, during which time Huang said he was consensually dating the girl.
Huang spent private time with the girl in the school’s gym equipment room and in a secluded spot at a Taipei riverside park, investigators said.
The court found the teacher guilty of sexual assault and sentenced him to three years and four months under the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例).
The girl’s parents filed a civil lawsuit against the school, seeking NT$5.38 million (US$175,788) in damages, citing negligence and failure to report the abuse when it was discovered by staff. The court awarded NT$1 million in its verdict.
The parents said the principal, one of the girl’s teachers, the head of student affairs and the head of the school’s physical education program all knew about the relationship, but none of them made an effort to stop the abuse or initiate an investigation.
They also said that the school should have installed surveillance cameras in the equipment room.
The four staff members allegedly discussed the matter privately with Huang and the girl without providing counseling for the child or informing the parents.
School officials said during the trial that they were not responsible for the teacher’s actions, as they had no knowledge of the abuse, and that it had occurred after the girl had graduated from the school upon finishing grade 6.
They also said that they had no reason to have surveillance cameras installed without any knowledge of illicit activity happening there.
The girl passed a lie detector test and had corroborating testimony from her classmates, the court said.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
GLOBAL: Although Matsu has limited capacity for large numbers of domestic tourists, it would be a great high-end destination for international travelers, an official said Lienchiang County’s (Matsu) unique landscape and Cold War history give it great potential to be marketed as a destination for international travelers, Tourism Administration Director General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀) said at the weekend. Tourism officials traveled to the outlying island for the Matsu Biennial, an art festival that started on Friday to celebrate Matsu’s culture, history and landscape. Travelers to Matsu, which lies about 190km northwest of Taipei, must fly or take the state-run New Taima passenger ship. However, flights are often canceled during fog season from April to June. Chen spoke about her vision to promote Matsu as a tourist attraction in
PAWSITIVE IMPACT: A shop owner said that while he adopted cats to take care of rodents, they have also attracted younger visitors who also buy his dried goods In Taipei’s Dadaocheng (大稻埕), cats lounging in shops along Dihua Street do more than nap amid the scent of dried seafood. Many have become beloved fixtures who double as photography models, attracting visitors and helping boost sales in one of the capital’s most historic quarters. A recent photo contest featuring more than a dozen shop cats drew more than 2,200 submissions, turning everyday cat-spotting into a friendly competition that attracted amateur and professional photographers. “It’s rare to see cats standing, so when it suddenly did, it felt like a lucky cat,” said Sabrina Hsu (徐淳蔚), who won the NT$10,000 top prize in
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
RSS