Spanish Surfer Stabbed by 'Fishermen' in Kenting

Good stuff. Very clear descriptions by the witnesses of the attack and a lot of repeated statements of the ferocity of the attacks and the fact it was four against one. Not quite sure why the media isn’t interested in this and is more interested in a big nose dropping a banana skin.

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Sorry, a banana skin is news?

I’ve been out of the country for a while now. So glad i don’t have to watch TVBS anymore…

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Not only was it news, said foreigner is leaving Taiwan because he was so horribly shamed by the media for the act of throwing a banana skin out of a moving car window on a Pingtung country road. Pingtung of course being known for the obsessive tidiness of it’s local residents.

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Yes, very interesting to read the testimony of the witness. He deserves a lot of credit for stepping in when he did and for testifying at the trial. He most likely saved the surfer’s life.

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So, could someone please provide us with a short english translation summary please ?

Specifically the reasons why those guys were sentenced to 3-6 years (which the OP and others consider way too low).

Again (as this is the full verdict)
are they all charged for homicide or mayhem ?

Charged and found guilty of attempted murder. The sentencing is complicated, there’s a long explanation of the judge’s reasoning, I’ll leave it to someone else.

If the penalty is too small it can be commuted to a fine, hence, the problem here dealing with attempted murderers, pardon my Englishee, me no Native.

There are usually guidelines for this. Example in Spain 1st time offender with sentences under 2 years are just placed on probation. Any idea about the guidelines here? 3.5 years is not so short…

Article 41 of Criminal Code of the Republic of China says In an offense that carries a maximum principal punishment of not more than five years’ imprisonment, if the offender is sentenced to imprisonment for not more than six months or short-term imprisonment, the punishment may be commuted to a fine at a daily rate of NTD one thousand, two thousand or three thousand. This provision does not apply to the cases in which the commutation of the pronounced punishment as imposed is manifestly of little corrective effect, or the legal order cannot be maintained.

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Ok so it does not apply here. Their sentence carries a larger maximum (I believe 10 years) and anyhow they got 6, 5, 3.5 and 3.5 years, so they will serve time unless they appeal and they win the appeal.

He did save my life. I held well until the stubbing, time in which I fell on my knees and time in which they started attacking through the back. This honorable man showed courage as he screamed to them in an angry tone while the attack was taking place, making them stop. He is a true hero. I must say too that one out of many, as all except him (and me) walked away.

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Not possible to read about this ordeal without my BP ratcheting right up through the gears. Reading about the good samaritan helps. Good on that guy.

What tribe raised these 4 males, I wonder.

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Here’s the language of the judgment/verdict, followed by two machine translations and a dictionary translation:

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It seems to me that “attempted homicide” would also be acceptable.

Why is there no news coverage? Nobody knows someone who works in journalism? I know one person. I’ll contact him. But business news.

The original post links to an article in Taiwan English News:

(The United Daily News article referenced above no longer appears to be available.)

I haven’t seen any recent coverage (it’s possible I missed it), but there was some Chinese-language coverage back in March and April:

This one also has some video:

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Aren’t these news from last year? Sorry Im on a trip away from my computer.

If anyone can do a decent write-up on the results of this court case, I would be happy to publish it on http://www.taiwanenglishnews.com

At the moment, it’s just a dude writing from his mom’s basement, and I would like to make it more than that.

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I apologize for any confusion. I just thought I’d post a recap of the Chinese-language articles in response to @marasan’s question:

I thought it was possible that @marasan meant that he thought that there’d been no local coverage at all, i. e., that maybe he hadn’t seen those earlier articles. I also posted the articles in case there was any additional information in them. And I wasn’t sure people had seen the videos (in fact, I’m not sure I’d seen them), which may have been identical.

Of course the original information on this board was from Taiwan English News.

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Along with the case itself there is another factor that should be of public interest, the corrupted police from Hengsun. It can be read on the Court transcripts that when asked why they didn’t take picures of the wounds the officer in carge said that I had my clothes on when he went to see me, then asked why they didn’t search the vehicle or the house of the defendants for more weapons he said that he didn’t know, and when the main investigator talked (1st time that I had saw him in my life), he said that he had been retired a year ago (50 years old healthy looking) and he could not remember anything at all when he was asked (he was covering for someone elses corrupted work). The main Judge could not believe what he was hearing, he was very surprised. The police started well the 1st 24 hours but then I noticed a swift change (time in which someone intervened). The day we left the police station, me and my family had no doubt that they knew the defendants family or friends and they were helping them.

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I’ll give it a go later.

@Charlie_Jack the second decision is just a ruling to transfer the case to the civil division of the court.

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