Preschool teacher indicted for sexual abuse facing 20 more allegations

Taipei, July 10 (CNA) Prosecutors are investigating at least 20 additional allegations of sexual abuse of young girls against a former Taipei preschool teacher who had already been indicted for sexually molesting six girls, they said Wednesday.

The new allegations were made to the police by other parents after the man, in his 30s, was indicted in August 2023, which triggered new investigations leading to the discovery of sexually explicit videos involving minors in the man's residence, prosecutors said.

They provided no further details on the new accusations.

Parents first had suspicions that the man, who was working as a teacher at a private preschool owned by his mother, was sexually molesting children at the school in July 2022 and reported their concerns to the school.

The preschool and the parents, however, were unable to find any evidence of the alleged crimes when they went through the school's surveillance footage.

They still reported the case to the police, who turned it over to prosecutors, but prosecutors decided not to hand down an indictment after also looking at the surveillance footage because of a lack of evidence.

In 2023, however, when a young girl told her parents of things the teacher was doing to her while she was sitting on his lap, another investigation was opened.

Investigators went through the preschool's surveillance records again and eventually found that the man sexually molested and assaulted six children from 2021 to 2023.

Prosecutors then indicted him on charges of aggravated rape and aggravated offenses of forced obscenity for his actions against the six girls.

The case has gone to trial at the Taipei District Court, which is expected to announce a verdict on Aug. 16.

At the same time, Taipei's Department of Education imposed a lifetime ban on the man in September 2023, prohibiting him from ever entering the profession again.

His name was also published on a list of debarred teachers on a central government website, the department said.

Meanwhile, the preschool has also had its license revoked for failing to take proper disciplinary action in the case.