The Zimbabwe "suitor" case. Anybody know him?

re: The Zimbabwe “suitor” case. Anybody know him?

I read on the CNA website today that some handsome white guy from Zimbabwe, blond hair, blue eyes, surfer guy, swindled like 100 Taiwanese girls and women, aged 18 to 45, of millions of NT dollars over the past few years. Now five of them are filing suit againt the guy, who lives in Taiwan somewhere (anybody know where) and the police have arrested him for overstay, illegal working and fraud – he apparently got willing women to loan him NT$100,000 to NT$5 million when he said he wanted to marry them but just needed some money to tide him over until that great day arrived.

I heard that APPLE DAILY also ran a big photo of the guy, complete with photo of his babelicious wife and their little kid.

Can somebody post the CNA story here, and was it mentioned at all in the Taipei Times or China Post in print today? His name is Frank Gundall, married to a ROC national named Wang. Police seized a computer, a jetski, a Jeep and other items from his home. But where did he live, what did he do for a real living, anybody ever come across this dude?

Is he just a cool imposter or are some Taiwanese women highly gullible and want to get married so bad to a handsome hunk like this? Didn’t they ask any questions?

This is like that recent Hollywood movie starring Leonardo di Caprio! WOW!

Story reads:

Five Taiwanese women filed lawsuits against a man from Zimbabwe Friday in connection with fraud, claiming that the man swindled them emotionally and financially. Police recently arrested Frank George Henry Gundall for overstaying his visa, working illegally and fraud. Police believe that more than 10 people fell victim to the man from the southern African country, although when they called on several victims, most refused to press charges. Lawyer Chen Teh-feng said that his five clients, aged between 20 and 40, had each been swindled out of between NT$100,000 (US$2,857) and NT$2 million. Gundall’s modus operandi was to ingratiate himself with the women, telling them that he would marry them. Chen said that the victims are most concerned that their property can be returned, as most of Gundall’s property was said to be in the name of his wife, surnamed Wang, a Republic of China citizen.

I haven’t seen any reports about this guy in the Taipei Times or Liberty Times. But today I bought an Apple Daily for the first time in a few weeks, and there, sure enough, was a picture of him with a report on some of the latest developments in this sordid chronicle of events.

According to the report, the guy’s wife is a high school maths teacher. They’ve been married for ten years and have one son. The teacher’s colleagues are reported as saying that they knew the marriage was an unhappy one for her, because she often came to school covered in bruises. They also report that, when he took his kid to study in England, the social services there were alerted when it was discovered that the kid’s genitals had been cut by his father. They were very concerned, and decided that the best course would be to send him back to his mother in Taiwan.

The wife has been implicated in his scams and has been charged as an accomplice. Because he couldn’t read or write Chinese, she had to do all the banking, etc. for him, sending his ill-gotten gains out of the country. She says that, because she lived in terror of him, she had no choice but to do what he told her. I doubt if that’ll be enough to gain her an acquittal, but it could be quite a strong mitigating factor when it comes to sentencing.

If even 10% of these allegations are true, then the guy is a brutal monster and utter scumbag who deserves to be put away for a very long time.

I’m afraid that his behaviour will inevitably be interpreted by many xenophobic locals as reflecting the typical tendencies and innate depravity of the general body of foreigners in Taiwan. Won’t they just be lapping this up and muttering together about the foreign guy who lives in their neighbourhood probably being up to much the same kinds of things!

omni, thanks for the Apple Daily summary. Yes, a monster scumbug of the worst order. Will he now be deported back to Zimbabwe or tried in Taiwan as the scumbag he is? Sick boy.

Sources back in Taipei told me the China Post carried the story in Saturday’s paper, but I couldnt find it on the Website. Apparrently both the Taipei Times and the China News neglected this sordid story, but I think they should get on it and tell us all what really happened…

How did he meet his wife, how did he ensnare her in his cons, and where he came from in Zimbabwe.

If you hear anymore, Omni, please post. Sick but necessary to know about this stuff. Funny, how the Apple Daily bores into the real core of the news, whilst the other papiers don’t do shite.

[quote]then the guy is a brutal monster and utter scumbag who deserves to be put away for a very long time.
[/quote]
Whew! For a second there I thought you meant me… :wink:

I scanned the apple daily report myself and saw nothing but a bunch of allegations presumably originating with the poor women he “duped”. Social Services in the UK found he’d cut his son’s genitals, the apple daily happily reports but apparently made zero effort to substantiate it. The story seems nothing more than what normally happens when “wronged” Taiwanese women meet gutter journalism, spiced with a little xenophobia. Ooh those depraved foreigners.

How could he be working there in Taiwan illegally if he was legally married his wife for 10 years? And how could he be overstaying if he is married to a Taiwanese? Doesn’t the spousal visa last forever? Or did they divorce recently?

Possibly he never applied for a JFRV. Even if one is married to an ROC national, one must still apply for a JFRV before one can work. And overstaying is indeed possible, even with a JFRV, if he didn’t renew it.

Formosa, I was told by a fellow Forumosan that you’re eager to hear the latest Apple Daily report on the Zimbabwean Lothario fraudster case. So I bought today’s issue of that rag, which has a fairly prominent report in the following terms:

The headline reads: “Foreign Man Held in Custody for Obtaining Property and Sexual Favours by Deception.”

The sub-heading reads: “He insists that the Taiwanese women knew he was already married but were still willing to get involved with him.”

There are two photographs, one of him being led into court with the caption: “Not willing to face up to his wrongdoing, Frank yesterday bowed his head as he was brought to court.”

The other is an old photo of him, his wife, and baby son – and yes, the wife looks very sweet and pretty in the picture.

The report, roughly translated, goes as follows:

"Zimbabwean Frank is suspected of involvement in at least 11 cases of obtaining property and sexual favours by deception. Brought before the court for questioning yesterday, he claimed that he never told any of the women that he was single, and that Taiwanese women still wanted to get involved with him even though they knew he was married. But the prosecutors, contending that there is strong evidence of his involvement in major systematic fraud and other offences, applied for his detention in custody, which was granted by the court. The prosecuting authorities will explain his wife’s involvement in the case within a few days.

Frank replied to two hours of questioning in fluent Chinese. He asserted that, although he didn’t tell his victims he was married, many of the women he got involved with never asked if he was, and some knew but didn’t care.

The wife has been charged as an accomplice. After the case was exposed, she withdrew all of the NT$5.6 million from their accounts in Standard Chartered Bank.

According to police investigations, Frank has an excellent grasp of Mandarin, Taiwanese and English. Pretending to be single, he passed himself off as an Olympic archer, the owner of a tea house, the agent for a diving equipment business, and so on. After he had snared the affections of his victims, he used the lure of marriage or business investment to extract money from them. The police discovered cars, artworks, antiques, and other items (some stored in containers) that Frank had obtained by deception from his victims, with a total estimated value of more than NT$10 million."

They have also added a box summarising other cases of fraud committed by foreigners in Taiwan. But they’ve only been able to dig up four such cases – committed by an Irishman, a Japanese, a Nigerian and a group of Cameroonians, respectively – and none of them is in any way related to the kind of fraud allegedly committed by the bed-hopping Frankie-boy. So although their intention is presumably to warn Taiwanese about the dangerous, fraudulent tendencies of foreigners in Taiwan, in fact it should have rather the opposite effect – just five such cases among the tens of thousands of foreigners who reside in or visit Taiwan in any year suggests that the overwhelming majority of foreigners here are remarkably honest, law-abiding people. If a tabloid in the U.K., U.S., or almost anywhere else were to list all the reported local cases of fraud committed by foreigners during the past year or so, it would probably run into hundreds or even thousands.

So there it is, Formosa and anyone else who is interested – the latest Sun-style revelations, hot off the press for your full and unfettered delectation.

If he has a jetski and a jeep, he probably lives somewhere in or around Kending.

Just bear in mind that an allegation is an allegation - something the Taiwanese media haven’t quite grasped yet.

omni, you da man! thanks! splendid.

Yes, Juba, I quite agree, he probably lives near Kenting, but maybe the jetski was just for holidays there. Omni, does the article say anywhere WHERE the punk lives in Taiwan?

And it’s funny, they call him FRANK, as in “Zimbabwean Frank” when that is his first name His real name is Mr GUNDALL. Does every bloke get the JEFF treatment there, first name only. So tonyblair is TONY in Taiwan, and Bush is GEORGE? come on, Apple, get on the program…

NOTE: looks like this Frankie boy is in for a long jail time. 10 years at least. What will happen to wifey? is she as bad as him, i mean, was she in on all this stuff too?

What a couple, if so. If only him, what a mf! He is the new poster boy for foreigner casanova criminals. omigod!

…and nor has Formosa :?

United Daily News, Sat. March 6, page B4 (in the Taipei City edition):

Frank from Zimbabwe sentenced to 4 years and 10 months in prison for fraud by Taipei District Court, could be expelled after serving sentence or upon amnesty.

Entered Taiwan in 1991 on Zimbabwe passport (also had UK passport), married local teacher in 1993, one son. Posed as musician, diving instructor, stock analyst, to fool more than 10 women. Got 9 cars out of it, which he exported to Namibia. Defrauded so much stuff, he had to rent 6 containers and two warehouses just to stock all of it.

More news today in APPLE DAILY, translation courtesy All-Taiwan Translation Company Emeritus Esquire:

[Turns out there is more news: the prosecuting authorities have decided that Frank’s wife was not a victim of his despicable activities but was, in fact, an accomplice.

Therefore, the prosecutors have decided to press charges against her and are seeking a custodial sentence of two and a half years.

Frank is already serving a term of 4 years and 10 months for committing fraud against 11 women. ]

So they were in on it together, go figure!

added on May 23: The august Taipei Times will have a long story about the Zimbabwe seducer tomorrow and the Taipei Foreign Police spokesman saying “Taiwan Girls! Don’t go for foreign men! Look what they will do to you.” Page 2, bottom.

www.taipeitimes.com

Taiwan News section

May 24 issue

taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ … 2003156734

Today update in English, finally.

About the only new thing in the TT article that wasn’t reported by Apple Daily is the bit about him remaining in the detention centre and his prison sentence not starting to run until the case against his accomplice (the wife) is disposed of. That’s rather a surprising situation, if it’s true. However, I’m jolly glad to hear it – the longer he spends inside, the better justice will be served.

Go to the ‘Prison Life’ thread, do not pass Go!!