The Kaohsiung District Court has sentenced an elementary-school teacher to four years and two months imprisonment for child molestation.
The court found Yeh Shang-min (葉尚旻) guilty of two counts of violating the video production provisions of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例) and one count of underage provisions of the Criminal Code.
The district court’s ruling, delivered late last month, can still be appealed.
Photo: Taipei Times
According to the ruling, Yeh coerced three students into exposing their genitalia and convinced two of them to let him take a photo of them while exposed.
The first incident transpired in 2018, when Yeh was working as a substitute fifth-grade teacher in Hsinchu City, the court found.
The victim was alone in Yeh’s classroom in May 2018 when Yeh convinced him to reveal his genitalia under the guise of a hygiene inspection, the court said.
Yeh took a photo while the boy was exposed, and the visual evidence became a part of the Kaohsiung trial after the image was discovered during the investigation.
Yeh subsequently became a full-time elementary-school teacher in 2018 in Kaohsiung, where he was found guilty of molesting two other students in 2023, the court found.
Between October and December that year, Yeh made two students expose themselves to him twice, taking photos of one of them.
While the boys said they refused Yeh’s requests, Yeh used his position of authority to pressure them into submitting to his demands, the ruling said.
The guardians of both children reported Yeh and his conduct to the authorities after becoming aware of the incidents.
During his trial, Yeh admitted to looking at the genitals of all three children and taking photos of two of them, but pleaded not guilty to coercion.
He argued that he only asked the boys to remove their garments for either health education purposes or due to the children confiding in him that they were experiencing discomfort around their genitalia.
The court dismissed Yeh’s claims based on the evidence presented.
As Yeh had already reached NT$150,000 (US$4,751) settlements, respectively, with the two Kaohsiung complainants, the court sentenced Yeh to four years and two months in prison.
The court’s decision was based on Yeh voluntarily turning in his camera after the police confiscated his memory card and the lack of a criminal record.
It added there was no evidence Yeh intended to distribute the two photos he had in his possession. There was also no evidence of physical contact, it said.
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