Three members of the Control Yuan on Tuesday issued a statement saying they would investigate whether the Taipei City Government had properly dealt with allegations of sexual abuse of young girls by a former preschool teacher, with the statement explicitly naming the suspect and the preschool.
Chinese-language Mirror Magazine last week reported that after it last year revealed a case of a former Taipei preschool teacher indicted in August last year on charges of aggravated sexual assault and aggravated offenses of forced obscenity on six young girls, at least 20 more girls were reported by their parents as suspected victims.
During further investigation, a prosecutor found the former teacher in possession of more than 600 sexually explicit images or videos involving minors, including many on his phone and taken within the past year, the magazine reported.
Photo: Lin Che-yuan, Taipei Times
Prosecutors are wrapping up a new investigation and an ongoing trial at the Taipei District Court is expected to announce a verdict next month, it said.
However, the magazine also reported that due to restrictions on the reporting of such cases stipulated by the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act (兒童及少年福利與權益保障法), the case did not get much media attention and parents were unable to protect their children from becoming victims.
Article 69 of the act bans media from reporting the names of underage victims of sex crimes or child abuse, or other information that is sufficient to identify them.
The recent reports of new cases have prompted discussion on whether the law had protected the perpetrator and put more children at risk.
The Control Yuan’s statement explicitly revealed the preschool teacher’s name — Mao Chun-shen (毛畯珅), the son of the owner of Taipei Piramide School (私立培諾米達信義幼兒園), and stated that he allegedly sexually abused and molested more than 10 young children at the preschool in 2022 and last year.
It also said that while the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office had indicted Mao for some of the cases and is investigating others, the Taipei Department of Education had confirmed Mao’s involvement in sexual assault and harassment, and imposed fines and publicized his name and the preschool in August and September last year, as well as canceling the school’s permission to operate in October last year.
However, the city government’s statement announcing the results of its administrative investigation issued on March 12 chose not to reveal the name of the teacher or the school, although it had already publicized them last year, which misled people into believing the law was protecting the perpetrator, the statement said.
The statement was issued by Control Yuan members Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華), Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) and Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容), who said they would be investigating whether the city government and the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office had properly investigated and dealt with the allegations.
Meanwhile, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday said that he hoped the central government could provide clearer standards on the disclosure rules for local governments to implement.
Chiang said he has tasked Taipei Deputy Mayor Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) with supervising departments that are responsible for handling sexual assault cases and to see if improvements can be made to prevent future incidents.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare yesterday said that it is mulling amending the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act to clarify the rules on disclosing sexual abuse cases involving minors, and that it would meet with the National Communications Commission and news media representatives to discuss the principles within a month.
Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Lue Jen-der (呂建德) yesterday told a news conference that the purpose of Article 69 was to protect the privacy of underage victims and it does not ban media from reporting a case or the alleged perpetrator.
There are currently four exemption clauses in which the information can be revealed and the ministry would discuss the principles with the relevant parties within a month to better clarify the disclosure rules, he said.
The ministry is also mulling amending the law to take into account new technologies, social changes and public opinion, Lue said, adding that the supervisory duties of local governments could not be ignored and the ministry would try to assist local governments in improving child welfare.
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