The Yilan District Court has sentenced the owner of a private Taoist temple in Yilan to 25 years in prison for sexually assaulting a female devotee.
The court found the temple’s owner, Huang Kuo-ching (黃國靖), guilty of 39 counts of sexual assault committed between December 2020 and November 2023, the verdict issued on May 27 said.
Huang founded the private Taoist temple in 2015 and also served as its shaman, the court said.
Photo: Taipei Times
The unnamed victim, who was suffering from long-term emotional and mental stress, was referred to Huang’s temple in 2015 by one of her husband’s coworkers, who recommended it as a treatment option, the verdict said.
Huang convinced the woman, who was superstitious, that she was being haunted by evil spirits and affected by terrible karma from her past life, which required various Taoist shamanistic rituals for healing, the court said.
In 2016, the woman went to a massage parlor owned by Huang, who sexually harassed her for the first time, the verdict said.
Following an accident in 2020, the victim once again consulted Huang for treatment for a neck injury, it said.
Huang suggested that the woman’s spiritual condition could only be treated through more physically invasive rituals, to the dismay of her husband, who had accompanied her, the court said.
Huang was able to direct the woman to perform oral sex on him at a later date that year, the first in a series of sexual assaults that occurred in Yilan and Yunlin counties and other parts of Taiwan, the verdict said.
After enduring almost four years of sexual assault, the woman eventually reported Huang to the police, the court said.
Huang pleaded not guilty, claiming the victim’s husband had convinced her to agree to “sexual treatment,” and she had subsequently requested more of the same.
The panel of judges dismissed Huang’s argument, ruling that the victim’s gullibility meant that the sexual acts were not consensual.
By playing on the woman’s superstitions, Huang coerced her into making self-destructive decisions, the court said.
Based on the evidence, which included the victim’s written records and diaries, the court found Huang guilty of 39 counts of sexual assault, each carrying a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for a total of 25 years.
The verdict can be appealed.
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