The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday wrapped up its investigation into a case involving singer-actress Makiyo and her friend Takateru Tomoyori, charging both with assault and asking for four and six years imprisonment respectively over the alleged beating of a taxi driver last week.
The prosecution said it decided to charge Makiyo for assault after reviewing footage from a dashboard camera provided by another taxi driver, which prosecutors said showed that the actress kicking the driver, surnamed Lin (林).
Actresses A-tzu (ㄚ子) and Hsiang Ying (湘瑩), who were in the car, have been charged with providing false testimony.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The incident is believed to have followed the refusal by Tomoyori to fasten his seatbelt, whereupon Lin was allegedly kicked several times by Tomoyori. Lin sustained severe injuries and was hospitalized.
Earlier in the day, a group of about 20 members of the National Taxi Drivers Union submitted a protest letter to the Interchange Association, Japan, in Taipei, asking the association, which serves as the de facto embassy in the absence of official diplomatic ties, to apologize to the nation “for the tensions” caused by the dispute.
Union chief of staff Kuo Ya-hsiung (郭雅雄) said the incident had dragged on for so long and that none of the alleged perpetrators were telling the truth.
“We want dignity! We want the truth!” the protesters shouted, holding banners that said: “Find the truth” and “Violent Japanese drinkers not welcome in Taiwan.”
Although Lin’s case was an isolated incident, Japan’s representative association should say something about a Japanese national beating up a Taiwanese in his own country, said Cheng Chuan-yi (鄭釧義), an executive committee member of the taxi drivers’ association.
“They [the association] should apologize to Taiwanese and Mr Lin to help ease tensions between the two countries [caused by the incident],” Kuo said.
The association sent a representative to accept the protest letter.
In an interview with the Taipei Times, Kuo thanked the media for speaking for the victim and for allowing justice to prevail.
“The media have helped highlight the plight facing the nation’s taxi drivers,” he said.
Lawyer Yu Chun-ru (余俊儒), who was retained by the union to help Lin in the case, said the driver had indicated he would forgive the young people if they truly repented for what they did and told the truth.
People make mistakes and it is one’s attitude after making a mistake that counts, he said.
Since the controversy emerged, Kuo said several taxi drivers had come forward and said they had had Makiyo as a passenger before, adding that they had complained about her behavior. So far, none of the alleged perpetrators have offered compensation to the victim.
“Some things, like dignity, simply cannot be bought with money,” Kuo said.
Several well-known people, including former leader of the Bamboo Union gang “White Wolf” Chang An-lo (張安樂) — who has made public statements about the affair — and Yulon Motor (裕隆汽車) chairman Kenneth Yen (嚴凱泰), have indicated their intent to donate money to Lin.
Chang, a wanted fugitive who has fled to China, is the founder of the China Unification Promotion Party. One taxi association, the Grand Chinese Taxi Association, is affiliated with the party.
His involvement in the matter in Taipei appears to have been made to please China and spark anti-Japanese sentiment.
Meanwhile, the Taipei City Police Department removed two police officials from their posts over the local divisions’ “poor handling” of the evidence in the case.
The department acknowledged its failure to include a video clip in the evidence package given to prosecutors on Friday last week.
The video clip, taken by a taxi driver using his car camcorder, showed clear images of Makiyo shouting at the taxi driver and kicking him several times before being stopped by Tomoyori.
The police department did not present the video clip to the prosecutors until the prosecutors saw the footage on TV on Wednesday and demanded the tape from the department.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said the head of the Police Department, Huang Sheng-yong (黃昇勇), on Thursday afternoon presented a report on its handling of evidence and the list of personnel to be given punishments for negligence.
Hau also said he instructed the chief to re-examine the list and consider giving more severe punishments, if necessary.
Head of the department’s Sanchangli police station, Yang Kuo-chang (楊國昌), and director of Inspection Division of Xinyi precinct, Su Je-ping (蘇哲平), were removed from their posts.
Police officers who had handled the piece of evidence were also given demerits, according to the list.
“There was administrative negligence in the procedures relating to presenting evidence to the prosecutors, and I think those who are responsible for the mistakes should be punished,” Hau said.
Asked to comment on the singer-actress’ character, some sources within the Japanese community in Taipei said that Makiyo, who is half-Japanese, was not a well-behaved student when she attended the Taipei Japanese School.
Many parents were really troubled by some of her behavior, the source said, such as kissing her boyfriends in school.
The source also used the term “childish” to describe the actions taken by Makiyo and Tomoyori.
“Being drunk should not be used as an excuse,” the source said, referring to Makiyo. “We are embarrassed by Tomoyori’s chauvinistic behavior as well; he is really the shame of Japan.”
With translation by Jake Chung, Staff Writer, and additional reporting by CNA
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS