Wed, Jul 17, 2024 page2

• Taipei responded too late to school abuse: councilors

  EYE ON MAYORS: The DPP would file a complaint with the Control Yuan against Ko and Chiang over their handling of reports of abuse at a preschool in the city

  • By Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with CNA
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  The Taipei City Government’s belated response under Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and his predecessor, Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), to alleged child sex abuse at a kindergarten resulted in more children being victimized, two Taipei City Councilors said yesterday.

  A Taipei preschool teacher has been charged with sexually abusing six children from 2021 to last year at a school registered to his mother.

  Prosecutors are reportedly considering additional charges amid a wave of new accusations allegedly linking the suspect to 20 other abused children and the discovery at his residence of more than 600 sexually explicit videos featuring minors.

  

  From left, Taipei City Councilor Chien Shu-pei, Democratic Progressive Party spokesman Justin Wu and Taipei City Councilor Hsu Shu-hua speak at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: Chen Yun, Taipei Times

  The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would soon file a complaint with the Control Yuan against Ko and Chiang over their handling of the incident, Taipei City Councilor Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培) of the DPP told a news conference in Taipei.

  Ko had said that as mayor he lacked the legal authority to suspend the accused teacher without an indictment being filed, but the Ministry of Education in 2020 had ordered local governments to handle such incidents by initiating proceedings under a gender equality board, Chien said.

  Then-deputy mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) had said that she had left the city government by the time the Taipei Education Department had received sexual abuse complaints, but Chien said Huang did not leave office until a month after the first reports of abuse in July 2022.

  Chiang failed to act on the amendments to the act governing preschool educators that went into effect in March last year, which would have given him a mandate to suspend a teacher being investigated for sexual misconduct against children, she said.

  The Taipei City Government’s inadequate response to the reports meant that the suspect had the opportunity to abuse many more children before he was charged, she said.

  The suspect’s mother — who two months ago opened a new kindergarten in the name of another person — allegedly hired her son knowing he had no certifications, DPP Taipei City Councilor Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華) said.

  Chiang must correct the city government’s mistakes as soon as possible, she said.

  Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers said the DPP was using the incident to smear Chiang.

  KMT Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) said then-mayor Ko conducted an administrative investigation that reviewed security footage and did not find evidence of wrongdoing.

  The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office in June last year dismissed criminal charges against the suspect due to insufficient evidence, but reopened the case the following month, she said.

  Upon being notified, the Taipei City Government immediately relaunched administrative proceedings against the suspect and the preschool owner to impose a lifetime ban for educational work and a NT$600,000 fine on each of them, Wang said.

  Taipei City Councilor Chung Pei-chun (鍾沛君) of the KMT said that education officials worked hard to review six months’ worth of footage in five days and should not be blamed.

  Separately, Ministry of Health and Welfare Department of Protective Services Director-General Chang Hsiu-yuan (張秀鴛) yesterday said the media was not prevented from identifying the suspect or the name of the kindergarten they worked for.

  Child welfare laws stipulate that the media cannot reveal information about underage victims of sex crimes or child abuse that can potentially be used to identify them, including their image, voice recording or the identity of family members who have been accused, she said.

  While the press cannot name the school a victim attended to protect their privacy, the ban does not include kindergartens, which are not recognized as educational institutions, Chang said.

  The ministry is considering a bill to provide clarity on the issue, she said.
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