The Taipei District Court on Thursday sentenced a male teacher at a Taipei elementary school to more than three years in jail for the sexual abuse of a pre-teen girl, and ordered the school to pay financial compensation to the parents.
The court filing said that man, surnamed Huang (黃), was a teacher and a sports coach for the girl’s class at the Taipei elementary school, and took advantage of his authority with regards to the girl’s care.
An investigation said an intimate relationship began when the girl was about 11 or 12 years old, from October 2016 to June the following year, during which time Huang said he was consensually dating the girl.
Huang spent private time with the girl in the school’s gym equipment room and in a secluded spot at a Taipei riverside park, investigators said.
The court found the teacher guilty of sexual assault and sentenced him to three years and four months under the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例).
The girl’s parents filed a civil lawsuit against the school, seeking NT$5.38 million (US$175,788) in damages, citing negligence and failure to report the abuse when it was discovered by staff. The court awarded NT$1 million in its verdict.
The parents said the principal, one of the girl’s teachers, the head of student affairs and the head of the school’s physical education program all knew about the relationship, but none of them made an effort to stop the abuse or initiate an investigation.
They also said that the school should have installed surveillance cameras in the equipment room.
The four staff members allegedly discussed the matter privately with Huang and the girl without providing counseling for the child or informing the parents.
School officials said during the trial that they were not responsible for the teacher’s actions, as they had no knowledge of the abuse, and that it had occurred after the girl had graduated from the school upon finishing grade 6.
They also said that they had no reason to have surveillance cameras installed without any knowledge of illicit activity happening there.
The girl passed a lie detector test and had corroborating testimony from her classmates, the court said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is