Flashermac Posted September 2, 2013 Report Share Posted September 2, 2013 TAIPEI - A Taiwanese widow who faced the theoretical possibility of 298 years in jail for an affair with a married man has rekindled the debate over the island's controversial adultery laws. The woman, 56, who was not herself married during the five-year affair with her neighbour, was told she must serve two years in jail or pay a fine of Tw$730,000 (787,000 baht). But court officials said she had faced the possibility of 298 years in jail after judges used confessions from the pair to estimate they had held a total of 894 trysts in various motel rooms. Under Taiwanese law, each offence was worth up to four months in jail, but judges at the district court in central Changhua county decided to reduce the sentence. ``Since the offence was not a felony, the judges decided to mete out what they thought was the proper punishment,'' Yu Shih-ming, the court's spokesman, told AFP. The man, 50, avoided legal punishment altogether after his wife, who had filed the complaint against the duo after learning of the affair, decided to forgive him and drop the lawsuit against him. The case sparked new calls for adultery to be decriminalised. ``Taiwan is one of the few countries in Asia where adultery remains a criminal offence,'' Lin Mei-hsun, deputy executive of the non-profit Modern Women's Foundation, told AFP. ``In the Changhua case, why was the woman punishable while her former lover escaped a legal punishment? This was unfair. ``To some extent, adultery should be decriminalised as we feel that women should have the right to decide who they love and who they have a sexual relationship with.'' Taiwan's judicial authorities have been reluctant to drop adultery as a criminal offence, citing public opinion. According to the latest survey done by the Justice Ministry in May, 77.3% of respondents said ``no'' when asked if they favoured the campaign to decriminalise adultery. In a similar survey in April, 82% of people said they opposed decriminalisation, the ministry said. ``Many married women fear that once the criminal offence is removed, they will be short of a critical measure for preventing their husbands from having extramarital affairs,'' Lin said. ``But what they don't realise is that the criminal offence is not likely to ensure men's loyalty to their families.'' The widow is not in custody as she decides whether to appeal the court's ruling. http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/367640/298-year-sentence-sparks-debate-in-taiwan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted September 2, 2013 Report Share Posted September 2, 2013 894 Trysts over a 5 year period equates to 3.5 per week, and it took this guys wife 5 years to figure out what was happening? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexi Posted September 2, 2013 Report Share Posted September 2, 2013 It works out at 880 bt/Tryst......no so bad really ....and a very good idea to make the female party pay .....lets hope this catches on in LOS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexi Posted September 2, 2013 Report Share Posted September 2, 2013 Also once you factor in the Standard ISI conversion rate of 1 Tryst = 1.3987659 shags,it looks even better value Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpiceMan Posted September 2, 2013 Report Share Posted September 2, 2013 The punishment is severe but if the surveys have credibility then its clearly what the people demand. And its not cruel. Seems anomalous that the married man doesn't have to do time in prison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted September 2, 2013 Report Share Posted September 2, 2013 Seems anomalous that the married man doesn't have to do time in prison. Spiceman Re-read the article, the married man's wife decided to drop the lawsuit against him. Ipso Facto she must taken out the lawsuit as a private prosecution in the first place, which is also applicable in Thailand. As I said in my previous post on this thread, an a affair that had been going one for 5 years and they met on average every other day how did she not know? IMHO it seems the wife has it in for the widow. Mrs M. has just read this and commented that if she was defending the case her defence argument would be "Since no other party is being prosecuted who did the defendant allegedly commit adultery with?" It takes two to tango. I cannot argue with my wife's logic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpiceMan Posted September 2, 2013 Report Share Posted September 2, 2013 If an offense occurred doesn't that mean a crime was committed. Not sure how his wife dropping a civil law suit would save him from facing criminal justice. In the UK it is the Crown Prosecution Service who can drop the charges, the victim can't. So in Taiwan and Thailand, a victim can prevent the police from doing their duty to prosecute crime? I stand corrected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dean Posted September 2, 2013 Report Share Posted September 2, 2013 In the US, domestic violence cases can't be dropped by the victim dropping charges. Only the court system can drop the charges, as my step son has learned the hard way (he has 9 more weeks of paying and going to anger management classes and then paying Court costs of around $350. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TroyinEwa/Perv Posted September 2, 2013 Report Share Posted September 2, 2013 May or may not be true......each state has their own laws on domestic violence charges. You'd have to go through all 50 state's laws to make that statement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dean Posted September 2, 2013 Report Share Posted September 2, 2013 I just spent 30 minutes doing that and can confirm that in at least 30 States, the power to drop charges rests with the DA. I can't absolutely state that about the other 20 States but did look up Mississippi and even they give that power to the DA. I would be shocked if any State did not give that power to its DA's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.