Nantou elementary school teacher jailed 13 years for sexual offenses

Taipei, Nov. 13 (CNA) A Nantou County court on Wednesday found a former elementary school teacher guilty of 68 counts of sexual offenses against 22 students and sentenced him to 13 years in prison.

Nantou District Court said on Wednesday that the defendant, identified by his surname Huang (黃), "clearly knew" that his student victims were less than 14 years or younger than 18 years old, age milestones that relate to different potential sentences for sexual violations under Taiwanese law.

"The defendant took advantage of the victims' age and innocence to fulfill his own selfish desires," the court said in a summary of its ruling, noting that Huang had already agreed to pay compensation to 14 of the victims.

Huang was convicted of 38 counts of aggravated forced indecency, 21 counts of aggravated rape, four counts of forced indecency against a juvenile, one count of rape of a juvenile, three counts of forced indecency, and one count of attempted rape.

Huang, a subject teacher and baseball coach at the school in Taiwan's central county, admitted to committing offenses over an 18 year period against students from the school he had worked at since 1992.

The court summary noted that Huang continued to commit crimes against some of the students as they progressed through middle school and high school.

He was prosecuted for offenses under the Criminal Code, the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act, and the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act.

Prosecutors led by Wu Hui-wen (吳慧文) concluded their investigation in June this year. Huang had already been dismissed from his job and has been given a lifetime employment ban by the Nantou County government.

The ruling may be appealed.