The Taipei District Court yesterday approved the detention of a man for allegedly kicking a three-year-old Filipino girl at Taipei Main Station on Saturday.
The suspect, a man in his 40s surnamed Lee (李), was apprehended on Saturday afternoon outside the station after being identified by several witnesses.
Lee was quoted by police as saying that he targeted the girl because she was making noise.
Photo copied by Wang Kuan-jen, Taipei Times
First responders found the child conscious but with swelling on her face and limbs. She was taken to National Taiwan University Hospital for treatment, police said.
When interviewed later that night, the girl’s father said he was still shaken by the incident, which occurred on the first day of a five-day visit to Taiwan.
He said the attack was sudden and therefore neither he nor bystanders could react in time, although his wife pushed the man away.
A separate witness said Lee had also kicked a homeless person lying nearby prior to the attack on the child.
Railway police yesterday said they had stepped up security measures at the station, including increasing patrols and forming a task force of station staff and security personnel to approach individuals engaging in disruptive behavior and ask them to stop or leave during designated hours.
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