A 72-year-old Taichung man named Lin molested a 9-year-old girl at the end of last year. In the first instance, he argued that he had committed indecent assault on a girl under the age of 14 despite being mentally ill. He was sentenced to three years in January. His appeal to the Taichung High Court was rejected. (Photo by reporter Chen Jianzhi)
A 72-year-old man surnamed Lin in Taichung went to the residence of a 9-year-old girl early last year to chat with the girl's great-grandmother. However, he held the girl on his lap, touched her lower body with his hands and continued to molest her. The girl's great-grandmother couldn't stand it and coughed to stop him, so Lin stopped. Afterwards, the school informed him that Lin was arrested. During the trial of the Taichung District Court, Lin He argued that he committed the crime due to dementia, but the court recognized that his ability to identify was not a problem. He repeatedly denied it and tried to influence witnesses. He had a bad attitude after committing the crime. He was sentenced to 3 years and 1 month in prison for the crime of forcible indecency with a girl under 14 years old. He appealed to the Taichung High Court and found that the original trial court's application of the crime was correct and the verdict was dismissed.
The verdict pointed out that the 9-year-old girl lived with her great-grandmother. Her great-grandmother's friend surnamed Lin (72 years old) often came to the residence to chat with her. When Lin came again one afternoon in January or February 2025, he held the girl on her lap and sat down, hugged her with one hand, and touched the girl's pants with one hand with the other. After touching her lower body, the girl struggled many times but was still unable to escape. She continued to be molested by Lin for an hour. When the girl's great-grandmother saw this, she coughed to stop him. Lin paused for a time, but then continued to touch the girl's lower body. The great-grandmother quickly put the girl away and instructed her to pack clothes behind the house.
Unexpectedly, Mr. Lin refused to give up and followed the girl to the back. After the girl collected her clothes, he hid in the room and locked it. Mr. Lin tried to open the door to no avail, and lured the girl by saying that he would give her 100 yuan if she opened the door. Fortunately, the girl was not tempted to open the door, so Mr. Lin gave up and left.
It wasn't until March of the same year that the girl's mother, a volunteer at a girls' school surnamed Wang, explained a children's picture book about sexual harassment. The girl told her that she had been sexually harassed and had her "private parts" touched by others. The mother was shocked and quickly informed the school. The police were informed and Lin was arrested and the case was exposed.
During the trial at the Taichung District Court, Mr. Lin denied the crime of aggravated indecent assault and argued that he picked up the girl but did not touch her. The defender also said that Mr. Lin began to exhibit abnormal behavior at the end of 2024 and was diagnosed with dementia by the hospital. The court asked the court to consider whether it affected his mental state.
The Taichung District Court believed that Mr. Lin immediately responded and stopped after the girl's great-grandmother coughed, showing that there was no problem with his recognition ability. The hospital appraisal report also concluded that Mr. Lin had no obvious difficulty in handling life affairs. At the time of the incident, Mr. Lin had to appeal for another case and was able to take the train to the law firm to negotiate with the lawyer. It was determined that there was no problem with his behavior and intelligence.
The Taichung District Court believed that Mr. Lin was pursuing his own selfish desires and causing a psychological shadow on the girl. After the crime, he repeatedly denied the crime and even evaded legal responsibility due to his physical and mental condition.
After hearing the case, the Taichung High Court held that the original verdict was correct in its application of facts and the sentencing did not exceed the legal penalty. The verdict was dismissed and the sentence of three years and one month was still maintained.
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