Prosecutors yesterday applied to re-examine a child pornography case involving entertainer Mickey Huang (黃子佼), after he was granted a deferred prosecution, sparking a public outcry.
“There is concrete evidence of criminal intent in this case, and it must be dealt with with the most severe punishment,” Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) said. “Our ministry must act swiftly to shut down such child pornography sites.”
Several women last year accused Huang of rape and sexual misconduct. Judicial investigators searched Huang’s office and residence, and seized seven sexually explicit videos involving minors.
Photo: Chiu Yi-chin, Taipei Times
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last week did not charge Huang with contravening the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例), but granted him a deferred prosecution — meaning he would not have a criminal record if he maintained “good behavior” for two years — and ordered him to pay a fine of NT$1.2 million (US$37,477) and write a letter of apology.
It led to a public outcry and prosecutors have applied to the High Prosecutors’ Office to reconsider Huang’s case and examine the reasons he was given a deferred prosecution.
Lee Jinglei (李靚蕾), the former wife of singer Wang Leehom (王力宏), wrote on Instagram yesterday that Taiwan is too lenient regarding crimes involving child pornography and sexual offenses against minors.
“I cannot accept the [deferred prosecution] decision, Taiwan lags far behind US in its punishments for these offenses. An offender in the US could get a sentence of up to 10 years for only possessing a sexual image or video of underage boys and girls, with the average being a six-year, three-month prison term,” she wrote.
“When offenders are found in possession of sex videos of children under the age of 12, or already have a record involving a sexual offense, the punishment in the US can go up to 20 years, with a minimum of 10 years in prison,” Lee said.
Taiwan “should follow other countries in setting up an open database on sex offenders, so that children, teenagers and adults can be warned if there is a sex offender living in their neighborhood,” she said.
“Criminals convicted of sexual assault or engaging in child pornography should be locked up in prisons; they should not be walking around in parks and public places where children are playing,” she added.
Meanwhile, many public figures have lashed out at gaming streamer and YouTuber Chang Chia-hang (張嘉航), nicknamed Godtone (統神), for defending Huang,
Chang was quoted saying: “It is not such a serious matter... Even I would like to have sex with a minor.”
Following the outcry, seven companies yesterday said they had terminated their sponsorship deals with Chang.
The gaming firm Pixel Knights (轟天騎士團) wrote in its announcement that “we are firmly against anyone talking in such a way that endangers society and the online gaming community. The rights of children and women must be fully protected by the law, and underage girls especially need to be protected against exploitation.”
“From now on, we will closely scrutinize which celebrity figures we choose to cooperate with... Let us create a healthy environment for the gaming community,” Pixel Knights said.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
RSS