Wife secretly took screenshots of her husband’s cellphone conversations to catch him raping her, but was charged with obstructing secrets and sentenced to 40 days in custody

A woman surnamed Wu suspected that her husband surnamed Liu was having an affair with a woman surnamed Shen. Last year, while her husband was asleep, she secretly took his mobile phone and recorded the conversation between her husband and Shen. Afterwards, when Wu Nv filed a complaint against Shen Nv for infringement of spousal rights, she produced the photo as evidence, which was exposed. Liu Nan filed a secret notice of obstruction against his wife. After hearing the case, the Keelung District People's Court held that although Wu was secretly photographed to protect her spouse's rights, the Constitution protects people's right to privacy, which is higher than their spouse's rights. Therefore, Wu was sentenced to 40 days' detention and a fine.

The verdict stated that the woman surnamed Wu suspected that her husband surnamed Liu was having an affair. In January and February last year, while her husband was asleep, she opened his mobile phone page and took 93 screenshots of the LINE and INSTAGRAM conversations between her husband and Shen, who was suspected of being his mistress.

Afterwards, when Wu Nv filed a complaint against Shen Nv for infringement of spousal rights, the civil complaint included screenshots of the conversation between the two as evidence and sent them to Shen Nv. This exposed the fact that Wu Nv secretly took screenshots of her husband's mobile phone, and Liu Nan was angry and filed a secret complaint against his wife.

During the court hearing, Wu once took out her husband's recording and said, "I'll show you the phone." The evidence was that her husband agreed that she could check the phone.

The judge believed that viewing and copying are two different things. Although Wu used this method to collect evidence in order to maintain her marriage and protect her spousal rights; the Constitution protects people's right to privacy, and almost all adults in today's society have mobile phones. They use mobile phones with account numbers, passwords, etc. to view, secretly record and copy other people's mobile phones. It must be known that the owner of the mobile phone is involved in many privacy activities, so it should also be protected.

The judge pointed out that Ms. Wu deliberately opened her husband's mobile phone in a short period of time, took photos of the conversation records between him and Ms. Shen, and reviewed a large amount of conversation content, which had seriously violated the right to private conversations.

The judge considered that Ms. Wu illegally took screenshots of Mr. Liu's mobile phone conversations to protect her own rights and interests. However, the right to privacy should be superior to the right of a spouse. Therefore, she was sentenced to 40 days of detention for violating confidentiality and was fined 40,000 yuan by Yike.