[color=#BF0000]Admin has verified that this message came from Zain Dean. [/color]
Regarding the car accident of morning of 25th March 2010, in Taipei City
You might have heard some reports of my involvement in an accident that happened recently. There has been much media misinformation regarding my involvement, and this document is an attempt to show the facts of the case as they really happened. Even though my professional career in Taiwan for the past 16 years has come to an abrupt end, it still means a lot to me to let the people who actually know me understand the real truth behind some of the recent sensational headlines.
Firstly, although the accident was not caused by me, (by reading this document and hearing my side, you will be able to make up your own mind about this) the car was owned by me, and I was in the car at the time of the accident. Thus I feel a deep sense of moral responsibility for what happened.
As such I wanted to send my deepest condolences in this time of deep sorrow for the family. I sincerely share their grief at this darkest hour and I feel deep sadness and sorrow.
Recently my own mother passed away, it was a tremendously painful and confusing time. I am aware of the pain and suffering that must be going through the minds of the immediate family of Mr. Hwang, the deceased. I hope that by having more people read this document, the family of Mr Hwang can also find out what actually happened during the early hours of 25th March 2010, and that they can find peace.
Recent Developments:
The English language media, Taipei Times recently published an apology and correction for their incorrect reporting. At least this is a start in getting my name cleared.
Timeline of events:
25 March 2010. 1am. I received a phone call from a Taiwanese man, a neighbour of mine, (Mr A), who called me from a KTV on Linsen N Road, and wanted me to come out to meet him. I was already in bed, sleeping, but as Mr A was a extremely wealthy person who had indicated he would be willing to invest in my company, I decided to come out. In Taiwan (and China), the business custom is to go to these kinds of KTV’s/ hostess bars in the early hours, drink whole glasses of alcohol in one swig and ‘talk business/ bond’. It’s not something I have done in the past 16 years of being in Taiwan, as most of my customers are leading corporations competing on the international business arena, looking for brand consulting, corporate communications etc. These kinds of customers are not looking to get drunk in a hostess bar, but rather increased market share on a global basis.
After a few hours of intense drinking, I became very drunk and Mr A decided to change venue. As I had driven my car (initially not intending to drink, since I had for the past several weeks been part of a vegetarian/ non alcoholic / health plan) to the first KTV, and had now become drunk, Mr A called the management of the 2nd KTV (another KTV/hostess bar on Songjiang Road) and asked them to send over a driver. Mr A apparently was a regular and big customer of the 2nd KTV, and thus he had preferential treatment. The driver arrived, and took us to the 2nd KTV.
When we arrived, the same process was enacted, however, this time I was so tired, and drunk that I quickly became sleepy and according to Mr A, ‘was no fun’ and he decided to leave.
Mr A then requested the management to provide another driver to take me home, as it was obvious that I would not be able to walk properly, let alone drive. Thus a driver was selected, and I was placed into the passenger seat, and the driver got in the drivers seat, and the car left the front of the KTV (this was recorded on CCTV and provided to the police by the KTV). This was also seen by Mr A.
I was then driven home, indicating to the driver I lived near 101 (I live in one of the buildings in front of the 101 building). What I remember of the ride home was that it was very fast, it was raining, and the sky was dark (still night). Also my head kept bumping up against the glass, as I slumped to the right. I didn’t hear or see anyone being hit (neither did I receive any injury nor the airbag go off).
When we neared the 101, the driver tried to wake me up asking, ‘where do you live, what’s your address?’ I turned around in a half-sleeply state and saw a man I didn’t recognize thus I didn’t want to give him any details of where I lived etc. I simply asked him to drop me off at the corner (Songren and Xinyi) of the street behind my house. I then got in the drivers seat (not even at this point noticing the damage on the car) and drove the last couple of hundred meters home, parked the car and somehow made it up to the house.
On arrival at the house, I had to ring the doorbell, as I hadn’t brought my keys or briefcase. My wife asked me about these, and I was unable to answer, still quite drunk. She then went down to the parking lot basement, and found them, and also found that the car had been in an accident. She immediately called Mr A and asked him about it, he said the driver had driven me home and that’s all he knew of the matter.
However, regarding the damage to the car, he also said that we shouldn’t make a big fuss about it, as ‘the parking lot attendants don’t make a lot of money’. The implication was that instead of complaining to the KTV about the damage, we should just get it fixed by ourselves. (In Chinese the phrase was, “bu yao nemma jijiao”).
I was unaware of this conversation or that the car had received any damage. The next day my wife called me from work to wake me and asked me what had happened the night before, specifically to the car. I replied, nothing that I knew off. She asked me to go to the basement parking lot to see for myself, and I did so. I was very surprised to see that the damage to the front right side of the car, a broken bumper, a crushed light fitting, body panel damage, radiator damage and some chassis damage.
After discussing this with my wife, I came to the conclusion that the driver must have hit a lamp post or suchlike, as it had been raining etc., and based on what Mr A had said to my wife, I decided to take the car out to the repair shop I normally go to, near my house, and a place I’d been getting my cars over the years repaired time after time. After all, I had been trying to ‘win over’ Mr A and hopefully have him invest in my company, the last thing I wanted to do was to make a mountain out of a molehill.
This repair shop only has one slot for vehicles, so other cars waiting to be repaired must be parked outside on the public road. The owner of the repair shop (Mr M) asked me what had caused this, I said I didn’t know (not wanting to tell him that I had been to a hostess bar, etc). He estimated the repair cost to be quite high if we used new original (Mercedes) parts, but lower if we used second hand parts. Either way, he was not able to give a price, so I left the car outside his shop in full public view and then went home. By this time, it was noon Thursday, the 25th March.
(Note the car in question was a 1994 Mercedes Benz E320, which I bought for 100,000 NTD approximately 2 years ago, at the time of the accident, the market price for such car was approximately 60,000-80,000 NTD).
After a day had elapsed, I visited the repair store and learned that second parts would not be easy to find (radiator) and chassis straightening, numerous panel repairs and a new front bumper would cost over 100,000 NTD using original parts, and for second hand parts, he’d have to take a few weeks to find out.
As I had originally been planning to leave Taiwan at the end of March (all my friends on Facebook and at the Rotary club for example had known this in early March when I had told them) I decided to have the car scrapped instead. I didn’t see the point of spending a lot of money to repair a car, more than it’s worth, nor did I see the point of waiting for weeks until parts could be found as I was planning on leaving in the next few weeks.
(I had made the statement on Facebook and given a speech at the Rotary club to that effect. I had already started giving away my books and paintings to charity, etc. The fact I was getting ready to leave at the end of March, latest April, was not a secret to all those that knew me).
On Friday I told Mr M at the repair store of my idea, and he then proceeded to remove the DVD player etc from the car. I asked my wife to have the car scrapped. After she contacted the scrap yard, she received another offer instead. Instead of scrapping the car (which would be done immediately, on the 26th March) she was offered the option of selling the car instead (which would mean an ownership change that would happen on the 31st).
(Of course, if I had been planning to ‘destroy the evidence’, I would have taken the quicker option, and the car would have been converted to a block of metal immediately. By taking the slower option, I would be leaving the ‘evidence’ open to future investigation, not something one would do if he had the motive to destroy the evidence).
By the evening of Friday the 25th March, I still had no idea whatsoever that my car had been involved in a fatal hit and run. I had spent the afternoon working as usual. In the evening however, my wife received a phone call from Mr A’s wife. She said that she’d seen a newspaper report about the accident, and that it involved a black Mercedes, of the same model as mine. The accident had happened recently. She came round to our house, with Mr A and all four of us looked at the newspaper report. There seemed to be a link and all of us agreed that we should take the initiative and visit the police ourselves and volunteer whatever information we had. Certainly I had not driven the car home so there didn’t seem to be any undue reason to worry.
After they left, I called Mr D, the most senior person at our Rotary club, by number of years in Taiwan. I told him what had happened, and he advised me to (1) voluntarily go to the police and make a statement of what I knew (2) check to see if the car had proper insurance and whether the insurance would cover this kind of accident.
As a result I asked my wife to go to the office and check the insurance paperwork immediately. During this time, I began pacing up and down the apartment, trying to get my head around this situation. I tried calling Mr A to see if he could come with me to the police station, and I couldn’t reach him.
A few minutes after my wife arrived at the office, she called me and told me that the Da An police wanted to meet her near the office and ask her some questions. She had agreed to meet with them, and they had taken her to the police station.
I called Mr D (9.03pm) and updated him on the situation, he again advised to (1) go to the police station voluntarily to see what was going on, and (2) that he’d arrange for a lawyer to come the next morning at 9 am to authorize and approve the content of any statement I would need to make.
At this point, it still wasn’t 100% confirmed that the accident had involved my car, and even if it did, I wasn’t the driver, so I thought I would be able to go to the police station, tell them who the driver was, and come home. I assumed then I would be able to come back the next day with the lawyer Mr D offered, if necessary.
I then got changed into a suit, picked up my briefcase and went down the elevator to find the Da’an police waiting for me on the 1st floor. I asked if I could go to the Xinyi police station to make my statement and they refused. The reason I wanted to go to Xinyi not Da An police station was very simple. After living in Taiwan for over 16 years, and having once been a reporter during the early years, I was fully aware of the reputation of Da’an (previous reports of SOME, not all, policemen working with underground gangs conducting illegal gambling, prostitution, etc) and I felt there was a strong chance I would not be treated fairly there. Also Xinyi was right next to my house, a 5 minute walk.
(Please note I am not stating that all Da’an police are all the same. The problems only lie within a small part of the department.)
In my suit was my wallet, and keys. I didn’t have a passport or toothbrush or anything that would indicate I was trying to ‘escape the country’ as was reported by the media. Also my telephone communication with Mr D and the text messages we exchanged also shows this very clearly.
The Da’an police later told the media, whom they invited into the police station right next to where I was being interviewed, that I had been ‘caught’ trying to ‘escape to Jinmen’, which was absolutely incorrect.
I was told by the policemen (CID officer ‘X’) if I had been driving the car at 5am on Zhongxiao Section 5, I said I hadn’t been. He then showed me newspaper reports of the accident. I told them the driver was someone else, a person allocated by the KTV where I had been that evening, to drive me home.
Then at the police station I was asked if I was willing to have a blood test done to test for alcohol or amphetamine use. I agreed and the tests were done at a local hospital.
Officer X insisted I make a statement immediately. I asked for an interpreter from the foreign affairs police, and this was refused to me two times. On the third request, Officer X allowed a foreign affairs police officer from the national police administration to attend (Officer ‘F’).
Unfortunately as it was already quite late now, into the early hours of the morning, and Mr D said he couldn’t get a Chinese speaking lawyer to come out so late.
So I decided to tell Officer F what had happened and who was the driver, and Officer F managed to persuade the Da’an police to listen to me and check out my story. Reluctantly Officer X came with us in a police van to the 2nd KTV on Songjiang Road.
The officers went to the KTV doorway and asked the parking lot attendants if they had taken any foreigner home a few days ago. They all denied it. Officer F asked me if I would be able to identify the driver. I said I wouldn’t, since I didn’t have a clear recollection of who the driver was (I had been drunk and sleepy) so I didn’t want to implicate anyone innocent. Officer asked again, more forcefully, and then one of the KTV admitted driving me home. This man was then immediately placed into the van.
Then a strange thing happened, whilst officer F was talking to the KTV staff at the KTV next door (there were two KTVs right next to each other) officer X, allowed the other KTV staff to come up to the van where the driver had been placed and started discussing the drivers alibi. I knew this because I speak and understand spoken Chinese fairly well.
They basically started colluding right in front of officer X, as to ‘what had happened’. The driver stated to his co-workers that he didn’t drive me home and that he had come back to the KTV soon after leaving. He told his co-workers where he had ‘dropped me off’ (across the street on the other side), and they started repeating what he’d said, in an effort to commit it to their collective memories and ‘get their story straight’. He told them a location, but wasn’t sure exactly. One of his co-workers gave a suggestion, ‘was it xyz street’, and after a pause, they all agreed it was so.
I was at this point raising my voice and saying, ‘you can’t let them collude with the suspect like this, this isn’t good police work’, but no one listened to me, and officer X certainly wasn’t bothered by it or think it was wrong in anyway. After they had finished talking, about the same time as officer F had come back to the van, we departed.
At the police station, I wasn’t asked to give a statement, but now the driver was. After an hour or so, the officer who was questioning the driver came out and said “good news for you” as he patted me on the back, “the drivers confessed to what happened, what he’s stated supports what you’ve said” [paraphrased from Mandarin Chinese]. This was a huge relief for me, and the officers who had been with me to the KTV to pick up the driver also seemed relieved. Officer F, even went as far as saying to the other uniformed police present, “see I told you it wasn’t Dean, I’ve been doing police work for many years, and I have good instincts. When the driver had gotten into the van, I had sat next to him, and I noticed his legs had been shaking, he had been very nervous’.
At this point, we sat in semi circle and I started telling the police about the work I did in Taiwan, working over 16 years under the presidencies of Li Denghui, Chen and Ma, in different ministries (Ministry of Economics, Foreign Affairs, National Security Council, Tourism, etc). We became friendly and exchanged name cards and telephone numbers. One of the other officers, who had been in a room nearby who had been interviewing my wife, opened the door to see what the commotion was. He even took a picture of us all together, he said, ‘it was like seeing a teacher with his students all chatting together’.
I then sent a text message to Mr D, from our Rotary club (at 2.03am), stating; “Thanks [for your help], now apparently they’ve gotten a confession from the other person [the driver] … what an unexpected blessing … maybe that prayer worked …”
I got a reply back at 2.04am from Mr D; “Prayer does it! I prayed to God to help solve you’re problem. It is good news. Thank you Jesus”
I then replied to him; “Now need to get home … some time soon. Thankyou”
Mr D replied; “At least you can sleep peacefully. Talk to you tomorrow”.
At this point, I was getting ready to go home. But after another hour or so of waiting, I started to wonder what was happening.
Officer F, told me the owner of the KTV had arrived and was talking to the head of the police station in private upstairs.
Later, the tone of the whole office changed. The officers who I’d been joking with all disappeared, including officer F. I noticed that more and more cameramen from the local media had started milling around the foyer of the floor I was on, nearby where I had been sitting. Every time I went to the bathroom, I noticed the number of them was increasing, going from one or two, up to 5 or 6. One time I walked past, I noticed one of the cameramen saying to officer X, “Thanks Big Brother, for giving us this opportunity” and Officer X was saying “don’t mention it”. I started wondering what was going on, and why these media people were there.
The hours were starting to drag by. There was no one around whom I could ask what was happening.
Suddenly officer X appeared and was now very aggressive. “Why don’t you admit you drove the car? We know it was you who drove the car, why don’t you confess now?” I was dumbfounded. “What?” I asked. “You can make your statement now” he demanded.
Then I was asked to strip and allow a photographer to take pictures of my body, which I agreed to. (There were no indications of any accident damage anywhere.)
Officer X at this point wanted a statement written immediately, and wouldn’t allow me to get a lawyer. Originally I had been in constant contact with Mr D, but now it was past 4am, and I couldn’t get any reply from him. I became very worried. The tone had changed, they wanted a statement without a lawyer present. Officer X was very ‘insistent’.
At 8.17am I sent another message to Mr D, “Hi D, things have gone south again, at the police station, I’m still here … And still need a lawyer, can we get [lawyers name removed]? He has no answer. Z”
I then called another senior from our Rotary club, Mr E. Fortunately, he was awake already and directed me to an excellent lawyer he knew of, which I managed to get his home number and he agreed to come over immediately.
After he arrived he helped me to get the statement made (which was exactly as I have described above) and also helped me navigate the questions, most of which had been setup and copied and pasted from the updated drivers statement. (they had been copied and pasted in front of me by officer X). The questions were extremely pointed, and my answers had to be checked and re-checked by my lawyer, as the statement/ questions had been pre-designed to show me as guilty.
After the statement was finished, officer X came in and left. The officer left behind (officer G) then talked to me and my wife in private, he said, “I’m very sorry about what is to happen. This is not the way I like to do things. This has been decided from above”. I asked him what ‘this’ was. He replied, “you are to become the only suspect in this case”. I asked what was to happen to driver, “he’s to be released” said officer G.
At this point I almost broke down with despair. What was happening? Officer G seemed very compassionate. He said, “Just remember, whatever happens … look after your … aura”. Then he left.
I then realized the media had been invited to film ME, and they were waiting for ME to have an emotional reaction. I decided to stay calm and remain composed, even though I was extremely low. The media had been thanking the police officer X for letting them come into the police station and film ME.
Officer G seemed at this point the most supportive. He suggested that I didn’t cover my face and tell the waiting media the truth. I thought this seemed like a good idea. I repeated the idea to another officer who seemed more senior, who became angry at officer G. He said, “What a stupid idea”, and “we don’t want any comments like that made inside the police station”. He then looked at me and suggested I cover my head and face with a mask. I became confused on what I should be doing. I’d never been in this kind of situation, although I’d seen scenes like this on television.
Later, I was escorted into a police car and taken to the criminal court. I covered my face with my jacket and entered went into the basement. I was then delivered to a holding cell.
After many hours went by, I was presented to an investigating prosecutor. Luckily my lawyer was there, and he asked for bail which was granted. The prosecutor seemed more concerned about the amount of media coverage than the facts. “See how big this story is, how can I grant bail?” she argued with the lawyer. But we got bail.
On leaving the court house, I realized now that it was already dark again, a whole day had passed. Outside a mob was waiting, comprised of media. They drove away the taxi we’d called for. People were punching me, trying to rip my face mask off, my jackets hood was ripped off, my cap was pulled off, my bag pulled from my body, I fell to the ground. It was very frightening, being attacked by a mob and being filmed at the same time. At one point, the goading was too much, and I took a jab at one of the media who were especially confident and aggressive. My wife replied, “stop, don’t, you’ll make it worse”, so I stopped. I saw her being pushed to the ground, she was isolated from me and being stomped and jabbed with an umbrella. (Later her body was found to be covered in bruises). I became aware of a older Taiwanese lady, not a media member trying to hit me, I let her, as I assumed it must have been one of the family members. We ran back into the court house. The policemen there stated they ‘could do nothing’. I told them I wouldn’t leave unless they could get us into a taxi. Initially they insisted they had not jurisdiction outside the courthouse (despite all being in police uniform), but eventually they agreed to go out with us. This time the crowd had abated, the media already had the footage they wanted, and most had left already. When we got into the taxi we were chased around until we managed to evade them. It had been the most hellish 24 hours of my life. Even now, I still couldn’t believe how quickly I had gone from being a normal person, to someone who’d been “found guilty” by the media, and the general public. I hadn’t even been charged with any crime and there was no evidence against me. Is this what justice is supposed to be in modern democratic Taiwanese society? They might as well have had a public hanging.
………………
More detailed information:
1a. Media portrayal:
A key aspect of the media character defamation I have been subject to is the way I have ‘handled my contact with the family of the deceased’. I have had numerous Taiwanese friends call me and ask my ‘why didn’t I respect the customs of Taiwanese religious rites, and make a visit to the family and pay my respects/ pray at the grave to show sincerity and solidarity at this time of grief’.
Well, since my wife is Taiwanese, I had been aware of these customs, as she was reminding me many times each day. As a result, I tried several times to get the contact details of the family to do such a thing.
The first attempt was the Tuesday (29th March) immediately after the incident became public (Saturday, 27th March). Through my lawyer, who also had suggested I visit the family, I made a request to the prosecutors office for such details. A few days passed. Then unfortunately the prosecutor refused, the reply being, ‘it’s not something I can help with’.
A few days later, I then tried via the Da An Police stations policeman who was part of the team working on this accident. He also gave the answer that ‘it was not convenient for him to do so’. By this time, the 7 days of mourning had passed, and it was too late to pay my respects, or lay a wreath at the grave.
On the 16th April, I appeared in front of the prosecutor, and I also repeated my request in person. It was ignored. Outside the court room there was a mob of media waiting, and one reporter seemed more reasonable than the others. He asked for an interview, I said I would give it if he would be willing to barter the interview in exchange for the family’s details. He said he would, but after a few days, again the message came back, ‘no, not possible, and that if I wanted to contact the family, I wasn’t to bother, since they had already assigned a local independent legislator, Lin Rui Tu to be the contact person, and the only thing HE wanted to discuss was the compensation payment from me of 23 million NTD’ [paraphrased from Mandarin Chinese source].
When I went in front of the media voluntarily on the 19th April, I pleaded with the reporters to show some decency and consideration to the family of the deceased, and not exaggerate the situation by stating that I was a unfeeling person and ignoring the plight of the family. At least they could report that I HAD tried several times to contact the family. They promised to do so, but then in the evening TV reports, most of the media cut out all mention of the above from the version that was aired on television.
(I believe that some media also want to report the real story, but they haven’t been given all the facts, for example Taipei Times wrote something that was incorrect, and they immediately published a correction the day after I lodged a complaint.)
1b. Local city councilor Lin Ruitu:
This man has gone to extreme lengths to stoke the fire and twist the facts. He has gone as far as making statements which are completely untrue in an effort to create support for him personally, prior to local elections taking place involving his ‘seat’ in the legislature.
Specifically, he has stated;
A. He has met with me in person (he hasn’t)
B. He and his staff have had telephone contact with me (he hasn’t) and that
C. I offered 10,000 dollars in compensation to the family (I didn’t make such an offer).
Lin Ruitu is trying to imply that I am “a very arrogant person who is dismissive of the value of a Taiwanese person, such that I was only willing to offer 10,000 USD / 300,000 NTD approximately, in compensation”. Of course this isn’t something I would say. I certainly wouldn’t call him and say something like that. His whole press conference and media statements are a farce, designed to make him look good in front of his voting population.
He then stated that I should make a 23 million NTD payment to the family in compensation. He insinuated that I had two passports and such like and that I would also be leaving the country at any time.
Today, to add fuel to the fire, he had a ‘press conference’ today (22 April 2010) spreading further false accusations. In response, I sent out a short press release that simply says the following;
“If Lin Ruitu is not able to provide any proof of his statements A B and C (above) then I would begin a law suit against him to the tune of 28 million NTD, and the all proceeds from such compensation, I would give completely to the family of the deceased”.
Hopefully there will be some members of the media with a sense of moral or social obligation and will actually print this statement, and not bury it as per previous statements I have made.
UPDATE: 27 April, 2010. Not one newspaper or TV station covered the above short press release.
My heart really goes out to the mother and family of the deceased, who now have to have their entire self dignity and self bearing put into the hands of such a unscrupulous profiteering politician.
My point is simple; by this man lying and spreading false rumors in the effort to increase his ratings, he’s actually making things worse for the family. Because he’s blocked all contact with the family, I am currently (22 April 2010) not even able to file the paperwork for the car insurance which covers for this kind of incident (no matter who the driver is) to the tune of several million NTD.
2. There have been many media reports recently stating that I, Zain Dean, appeared to be the driver of the car during the accident; and that there is no other person who might have been the driver. However these reports are not true. I have NOT released such a message to the media, NOR did I make such a statement to the police during my statement, nor does the prosecutor’s office have any such evidence. The media have been misled by incorrect information.
For whatever reason, the police at Da An are giving the KTV owners and their staff a complete public pardon, and they have decided to make me the scapegoat for the event.
For example even from the very beginning of me entering the police station, the treatment was extremely biased. For example, I was asked to give 2 blood samples to see if I had taken any drugs from the moment I stepped into the police station, and of course, I agreed because I had not done such a thing. However, the other suspect, the driver from the KTV was held for over 10 hours, and wasn’t asked to give any blood sample at any point. He spent his time in the ‘tea room’ upstairs (where the officers relax whilst off duty, etc) whilst I was kept in small interrogation room without air for over 6 hours, etc. From the moment he was brought into the police station, the way he was handled and talked to it was completely different. My spoken Chinese and listening skills are considered fair by most, and I was more than able to sense the difference in the tonality of the communication.
In fact the only evidence that exists in this case is a video (provided by the KTV) showing me, being placed (as I was too drunk to drive, or even walk, I had been sleeping on the couch in the KTV) in to the passenger’s seat of the car, and another man (KTV staff member/ KTV parking lot attendant/ “the driver”) getting into the driver’s seat, and the vehicle driving off.
The fact that the 8 members of the Da An police themselves were placed under investigation by the National Police Administration on the Tuesday (6th April) and were charged for allowing certain ‘groups’ to run illegal gambling operations in Taipei should speak volumes on the integrity of that particular police station. This is on top of many years of allegations and charges of illegal prostitution, women smuggling, and drug racketing involvement, all from the same police station.
Furthermore, on the Thursday (8th April) there was another report of the head of the police station was mysteriously removed from his post and a new head was appointed.
Of course, it’s not my place to make any kind of allegation or statement regarding the integrity of the Da’an or any other police department in Taiwan or elsewhere, and I am not doing so here. I must state that the VAST MAJORITY of police working there are honest, hard working, with full integrity towards their work. Some of these officers were mentioned above (Officer F, Officer G for example) did a good job of being unbiased and fair and did their jobs as law officers professionally and ethically. However, a few suspect officers though do seem to be otherwise, and the countless reports of such over the past years does only seem to support this.
3. I am cooperating fully with the Prosecutor of Taipei district court and police authorities to allow the investigation to proceed professionally and quickly. However, due to media scrutiny, the prosecutor has been putting undue pressure on me. For example, on Monday 12th April, a policeman from Da’an Police station came to my office at 2.05pm and asked me to attend a court hearing at 3.00pm the same day. When I asked why no ‘summons’ had been issued, he pushed one into my hand and said, ‘I’m giving it to you now’ [paraphrased from Mandarin Chinese].
When I asked if my lawyer had been given one I was told no (these kinds of official summons are supposed to be delivered by recorded mail at least 3 days before the hearing to both the summoned person and his lawyer). When I asked if my lawyer would be allowed to attend, I was told no, it was too late, and that I should come now to court, with the police officer, immediately. (Likewise no translator, typically a foreign affairs police officer, would be arranged at such short notice.)
When I realized that this summons and the circumstance surrounding it were questionable, I refused to accept the summons. Then the police officer asked me to sign a piece of paper stating that ‘I had been given the summons but that I was refusing to attend’ [paraphrased]. Luckily I had my wits about me and realized that this was potentially a setup that would most likely result in a headline in the local TV and print media to the extent of ‘Zain Dean refused court summons” or suchlike (as every action I have taken in the past few weeks has been immediately released to the media and it gets exaggerated and misrepresented quickly). Most importantly, the prosecutor could quite well use this incident to revoke my bail, etc. This incident was as clear an example as you could imagine as being a ‘set up’.
Thus, I refused to accept the summons that was being pushed into my hand, and let it fall to the table. Thus I didn’t need to sign a paper stating that I had received it and was not attending. Instead we agreed on a time 4 days later, the 16th of April, and I attended as per the summons, with my lawyer and a foreign affairs police officer to help with the communication.
When I talked to my lawyer about this, he said that she’d never heard of such a ‘instant summons’ (ie. come immediately) without notifying the attending lawyer, in all the years she’d practiced law in Taiwan.
4. The first time I found out that the accident had happened was on the evening of 26th, when a friend of mine called me about the news. Since I can’t read Chinese, I don’t watch the local news regularly. As soon as it became known to me that an accident had occurred, I immediately decided to volunteer and go to the police station. As I came outside the house, a police car was already there. The media reported I was picked up trying to run away, however, this is not true, as I had not prepared anything that would indicate I was running away, ie. passport, money, clothes, toothbrush, shaving equipment, etc. I was only carrying my briefcase and wearing a suit.
5. Specifically, to address the question of why the car was sold to a car repair shop, as again the local media seemed to take this as unconvertible evidence of my ‘guilt’.
On the morning of 25th March 2010, I drove the car to the garage to get an estimate on repair. The car was then left on a public road, in front of the garage, for two days whilst waiting for the repair quote and during this time all bypassers could see the car clearly. This is hardly the actions of a person who has committed an alleged ‘hit and run’. After the repair cost was understood to be too high, I then asked my wife to have the car sent to another car repair shop, where they offered to buy the car, not scrap it. That’s why the car was dealt with as it was. It wasn’t (as SOME media have reported) because I was trying to hide the evidence. As I mentioned above, the car could be have been sent to a scrap yard on the same day, but selling it would take at least another week.
6. The actual driver was from the KTV and was seen clearly seen driving me home by a witness, with me in the passenger seat. The video evidence showing he came back to the KTV after only 6-7 minutes I believe to be fake and prepared in advance by the KTV owner. According to the driver, apparently, I “woke up, demanded to drive the car’, before we’d even reached the first traffic light, and then I apparently then asked the driver to do a U-Turn across 6 lanes, dropped off the driver on the road opposite the KTV, did another U-turn at then next set of lights, and then proceeded down Songjiang Road.
In fact, the KTV management had 2 days to prepare in advance and evidence to support their wild claims. Apart from the video provided by the KTV showing the worker ‘returning 6-7 minutes later’ there is NO other evidence of such sort, ie. Video cameras opposite the KTV (taken from banks opposite, or Taipei City traffic cameras do not support the KTV video provided).
As a footnote, I also have a digital video CCTV system in my office, and am currently preparing some CCTV footage to be shown to the prosecutor and judge when this case gets to court, on how easy it is to modify the date stamp. (The ‘date stamp’ is the day/month/year/ time marker placed over the CCTV footage by the digital video recorder, and it’s as easily changeable as your time and day marker on a typical computer, just double click and enter the new time you like).
Paradoxically, in the ‘old days’ when we used VHS tapes to record CCTV footage, it would be very difficult to change a date stamp on the recordings, as tape was not digital, it was ‘fixed’. However, the new digital systems can be date stamp modified in seconds.
7. There were some reports that I was trying to run away to Jin Men and enter into China, which was also false. In fact, UK nationals are not allowed to leave Jin Men and enter China, only Taiwanese people can leave, so this message from the prosecutor’s office was clearly incorrect. Me and my wife had planned to go to Jin Men several weeks ago to meet her parents and family who live there, and this could easily be verified by the dozens of witnesses that know us, such as my wife’s friends from University, etc. (Logic would indicate Hong Kong would have been a more suitable location if I had been trying to ‘escape’ and surely it would have helped to take my passport with me, which it was proved was not on my person when I was ‘picked up’ by the police.)
8. I have spent the last 15 years living in Taiwan without any such drink driving incident. Neither have I ever had any such incident in my home country Scotland. I have never had any traffic accident of any kind that has led to a criminal case, either in Taiwan or Scotland.
In 1992 I was invited to come to Taiwan by a member of the Taiwan diplomatic staff who was in UK at the time, who had found out I was writing my thesis on the “history of and causes of economic growth of Taiwan”.
In the last 12 years, I have been working to help the Taiwan government on the international level to increase tourism, increase investment, increase trade and help the people and economy of Taiwan.
I have treated my Taiwanese friends as my brothers and sisters, and have contributed with all my heart to the development and success of Taiwan. I can’t believe that the country I worked so hard to promote has turned on me so quickly without even giving me a chance to make a single response or to try to understand what actually happened. The sensational, unethical, uncontrolled excessive media frenzy has been the main cause of this. There seems to be a general disregard for fact checking, balance, code of conduct, etc. especially with the TV media.
9. The reason why I am issuing this statement is because I feel I have been tried guilty before all the facts have been made clear. I was punched, kicked and abused outside the court house, and I hadn’t even been proven guilty or even charged with any crime. This statement is an attempt to set the record straight.
Thank you for spending the time to read this document. Your prayers and your support is very much appreciated.
Sincerely,
Zain Dean