The Taiwanese saying is "bring out both the big and small branches", but because of the contextual structure, the crime of intimidation is reversed and acquitted. Xiao Wang, surnamed Chen, continued to quarrel with his married girlfriend after they broke up. He was accused of choking a male customer in a barber shop and holding a gun. The Tainan branch of the High Court examined the recording and found that he only provoked the other party to call for support. The verdict was changed to not guilty of intimidation, but he was sentenced to 6 months for molesting his girlfriend.
Chen Nan became dissatisfied after his relationship with his girlfriend, who had a husband, changed. On the evening of July 2023, he broke into the barber shop where his girlfriend worked. The male client who had her hair cut accused Chen Nan of making a loud noise when he entered the shop and shouted, "Dad, I will wait for you with big and small ones", which made him worry that the other party would seek revenge with long and short guns. Chen Nan argued that it was the male guest who yelled for someone first, and then he choked back. The Tainan District Court sentenced him for intimidation in the first instance. However, the second trial examined the on-site recording and found that Chen heard the male customer say "call someone here" before he replied, "Bring out the big and small branches." This was provocation rather than intimidation, so the verdict was changed to not guilty.
However, the rest of Chen Nan's behavior still violated the law. At the end of August of the same year, Chen Nan saw his girlfriend riding a bicycle at a red light at an intersection in Tainan's South District. He drove around the intersection and took away the motorcycle keys. He forced her to negotiate in the parking lot opposite the Junior High School and injured her head and face with his bare hands. After his girlfriend's application for a protection order was approved, Chen continued to harass her through successive summonses and messages on LINE from October to December. He even broke into a barber shop to cause trouble. When his girlfriend's husband arrived, he called for a fight, but was suppressed by the police. The next day, he went outside his girlfriend's residence to yell at her husband on the pretext of looking for glasses.
Chen Nan reversed his confession at the second trial and argued that his girlfriend went to the parking lot voluntarily and that he did not hit anyone. He went to the barber shop to explain to his husband that he had not instigated the rape, and he came to the door to find glasses. The collegial panel compared the surveillance cameras, police code recorders and first-instance confessions and determined that he had shied away from responsibility after the incident. He rejected the appeal and was sentenced to six months in prison for injury and three violations of protection orders, with the option of a fine.
