A prominent archery coach surnamed Ni (倪) yesterday was handed a two-year, nine-month prison sentence for abusing his authority and having sex with an underage girl in his charge in a second ruling by the High Court.
The court filing said that Ni pressured the victim to have sex when she was a junior-high student and an aspiring archer. The affair continued until she had enrolled in university.
The Hsinchu District Court in the first ruling last year had convicted Ni on eight counts of abusing his authority and sexual misconduct against the victim, who was identified as “Siao Ting (小婷)” to protect her identity, and handed him a two-year, three-month prison sentnence.
In that ruling, the judges also imposed an additional three-month term for having sex with an underage female.
That decision was appealed to the High Court.
That punishment and yesterday’s High Court ruling led to an angry reaction online, as people were outraged at what they considered the lenient sentences handed down and accused the judges of being out of touch with society.
They said having sex with a minor is a serious crime which would receive a more lengthy prison sentence in most nations.
“Siao Ting” when a junior-high student wanted to represent Taiwan at international archery competitions and she was too young and unable to resist Ni’s advances because of her ambitions.
At high school, “Siao Ting” said that she was confused and thought that having sex would keep their relationship as friends and as coach and student intact.
“He promised me that if the sexual relationship continued he would help me with my archery career and so I was afraid of refusing to have sex because then I would not become an elite athlete and my plan to become a certified archery instructor would be over,” she was quoted as saying.
Her archery teammates testified in court that they had seen Ni embracing “Siao Ting” in the medical room and that when going to other cities for competitions they were aware that “Siao Ting” was often called into the room where Ni was staying.
The victim also testified that when going abroad to compete in competitions, Ni would criticize any bad performances and “punish her” by forcing her to have sex with him in his room.
“Siao Ting” has since represented Taiwan in archery at the World University Games, the Olympic Games and other international tournaments.
It was only when she enrolled in university that she became aware that what Ni had done was wrong and that she had been intimidated by authority of her coach and pressured to have sex.
She filed a judicial complaint and prosecutors began to investigate the case.
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