The Taiwan High Court yesterday sentenced former New Party legislator Elmer Fung (馮滬祥) to four years in prison for raping his Filipino housekeeper in 2004.
Fung was found guilty in the case’s seventh trial, but can still appeal to the Supreme Court.
Fung has been found guilty by the Taipei District Court and convicted three times by the High Court. However, after the woman appeared as a witness and withdrew her accusation, Fung was found not guilty by the High Court in the case’s fifth and sixth trials.
The woman, identified only as Rose, was hired by Fung to take care of his mother-in-law. Rose accused Fung of raping her on the afternoon of Jan. 23, 2004.
She provided as evidence the underwear she wore after the alleged rape as well as a pair she said she wore after taking a shower six hours after the incident.
After the woman filed the lawsuit, Fung agreed to pay her NT$800,000 in compensation, which Rose’s supporters claim was hush money.
Prosecutors and forensic scientists said DNA on the housekeeper’s underwear matched Fung’s. The victim’s injuries and her statements also corroborated the accusation that Fung had sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said.
Fung told judges that his former housekeeper had framed him by taking semen from a condom he had used when having intercourse with his wife and smearing it on her underwear.
Yesterday’s ruling said that although Rose had withdrawn her accusation following the compensation, her original statement and statements from doctors at Mackay Memorial Hospital showed it was unlikely that the accusation of rape was fabricated.
Saying that Fung’s wife had visited Rose and held her while she was crying, the ruling questioned why Fung’s wife needed to console her if Rose had falsely accused Fung.
Fung said yesterday the ruling was ridiculous and that “political motivations” might be involved, adding that he would appeal.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
Taiwan has recorded its first fatal case of Coxsackie B5 enterovirus in 10 years after a one-year-old boy from southern Taiwan died from complications early last month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. CDC spokesman Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) told a news conference that the child initially developed a fever and respiratory symptoms before experiencing seizures and loss of consciousness. The boy was diagnosed with acute encephalitis and admitted to intensive care, but his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he passed away on the sixth day of illness, Lo said. This also marks Taiwan’s third enterovirus-related death this year and the first severe
RSS