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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
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
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as