298-Year Sentence Sparks Debate In Taiwan

[Mekong]

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.

 

I am not sure about Taiwanese judicial system but in Thailand, having been there done that and got the T-Shirt as the saying goes, there are two paths towards Criminal Prosecution, Police / Crown Prosecution or a Private Prosecution.

 

I think most people are aware about how the Thai Police work, they are slow, incumbent and play off both sides against each other whilst trying to obtain Tea Money, and if an average Thai or a foreigner is taking on a "named family" in Thailand with connections there will only be one winner. Whereas with a Private prosecution if the Plaintiff can produce evidence before the criminal court and the judge accepts the evidence then the defendant will face trial. The plaintiff can withdraw the charges at anytime.

 

In my case this happened 10 minutes before my ex, the defendant, was due to take the stand, mid trial her lawyer had seen all the evidence I had against her and had heard my testimony and then knew he did not have a leg to stand on. They agreed on the spot to my demands in exchange for me dropping the Criminal charges, of course I agreed all I wanted back was what she had stolen from me, agreement was drawn up on the spot, she had to dash to the bank and get a cashiers draft which I saw then my lawyer stated "The Plaintiff and Defendant have reached an agreement and as such the Plaintiff drops all charges" I got my money back, I had the result I wanted after 2 friggin' years. The look on my ex's face when she saw the cheque being handed over was priceless.

 

She thought that was the end of it, it had only just begun, since some of the charges I had brought against her were offences against certain government departments, namely Land Registry and Land Vehicle Registry, the judge ordered the CPS to look into the evidence, after I had cashed the cheque and ensured the funds were cleared into my account, hey I may be a little mad but not stupid, we later met at city hall to register the divorce, upon exiting city hall with my bank balanced restored and divorce papers in hand she was arrested on the spot. As I was leaving in a taxi I saw her being driven away in a police car and that was the last I ever saw of her.

[Flashermac]

In Thailand men can sue their wife for divorce for adultery, but not the other way around. Run that by the Mrs. (I don't think it has been changed.)

[Mekong]

That law still stands

[Mekong]

Just to add to that, under section 1516 a husband may petition his wife for divorce on the grounds of adultery but the wife can only petition her husband if she can demonstrate he has supported another woman as his wife outside of the marriage i.e. a Mia Noi.

 

So as the law stands if a wife has a one night stand it is grounds for divorce for the husband, if the husband has a one night stand, or many seperate ones, it is not grounds for divorce for the wife.

 

So basically it is legal under Thai law for a Husband to screw around, have affairs visit massage parlours and prostitutes etc it's only if he financially supports another woman outside of the marriage that it then becomes grounds for divorce. I think the actual wording is "The husband has given maintenance to or honoured such other woman as his wife or the wife has committed adultery, the other spouse may enter a claim for divorce."

 

So basically it is the definition of what is adultery that differs between husbands and wife's

 

 

I think the constitution was written by men

[Flashermac]

A female MP in the mid 1980 introduced legislation to give women the right to file for divorce for adultery. She was almost stoned on the spot! Numerous prominent MPs got up to denounce her, calling her a home wrecker and other worse names. As I recall, you could count the number of female MPs at the time on the fingers of one hand, with fingers let over.