A 12-year-old girl dialing a wrong telephone number sent Taiwanese security officials scrambling after the ambassador from Swaziland was threatened with death, officials said yesterday.
Officers in the Shihlin District of the Taipei City Police Department yesterday established after investigations that the matter was the result of a misunderstanding.
It turned out that a 12-year-old ethnic Chinese South African girl intended to make a phone call to a friend to request her to return her iPod, but she accidentally dialled the number incorrectly.
Unaware of this, the girl used abusive language while speaking with what turned out to be the Swazi ambassador.
Ambassador Njabuliso Gwebu told police she was warned that "you will die" in the late-night call to her official residence on Aug. 3, an official at the Swaziland Embassy said.
After checking phone records, police traced the owner of the phone, an ethnic Chinese South African businessman. It turned out that his 12-year-old daughter had been using the phone regularly and made the threatening call that night.
Relaying Gwebu's gratitude to the police for their efforts, the embassy yesterday said Gwebu, being a mother herself, understands that it is unavoidable for a child to make mistakes and she would not insist on pressing charges, as she believed the child did not intend to cause her any harm.
According to legal experts, threatening an ambassador is a violation of the criminal code and any resulting jail term can be increased by one third if the matter is considered damaging to diplomatic ties with another nation. Judging by the nature of the case, it would not be necessary to charge and convict the 12-year-old girl, embassy officials said.
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