Taichung city councilors today criticized the city’s Education Bureau for failing to ascertain the number of victims and issue disciplinary action in a case of child sexual assault at a local elementary school.
Victims continue to emerge following a third wave of indictments against the school baseball coach, who was previously convicted of 90 sexual offenses against 32 minors from 2019 to 2024.
He was indicted again on Wednesday last week by the Taichung District Prosecutors’ office on charges of rape and forced indecency, as well as producing and possessing sexually explicit content involving minors, after prosecutors identified 19 more victims, all under the age of 14.
Photo: Su Chin-feng, Taipei Times
Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) today said that some of the victims were duplicates and there was no cover-up or lapse in oversight.
The city government intervened quickly after the case was reported, she said, adding that the school was disciplined and its principal stepped down.
The Taichung Legal Affairs Bureau is also helping victims to apply for compensation, with some cases already successful, she said.
She further expressed sorrow over the case and said she hopes the culprit receives a severe sentence.
If more evidence emerges, the authorities would show no leniency, she added.
The Taichung Education Bureau said that 42 victims were identified in the first and second wave of indictments, with another 11 added in the third wave, although it is not yet known if any are duplicates from earlier indictments.
The Democratic Progressive Party caucus in the Taichung City Council today demanded that the city government proactively expand investigations, hold officials accountable for failures in oversight and introduce systemic reforms to background checks in schools.
The coach with a prior record of child sexual assault remained working in schools for six years, reflecting a systemic failure within the education administration, Taichung City Councilor Chou Yung-hong (周永鴻) said.
Disciplinary action for the school alone is not enough, he added.
In July last year, the Taichung District Court sentenced the coach, surnamed Sung (松), to prison terms ranging from three years and six months to eight years and six months, with the combined sentence undetermined.
The verdict was upheld by the Taichung High Court following an appeal.
He had a prior record and was sentenced to two years in prison in 2004 for molesting three children, although the charges were suspended for five years as he admitted to the crimes and reached settlements with the victims.
Sung therefore served no time and was not placed on the list of sexual offenders by the Ministry of Education, court documents showed.
He was then hired by the elementary school in 2018, which failed to carry out adequate background checks.
The case first came to light in October 2024 after a parent filed a complaint.
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