#METOO/Sexual abuse victims of Taichung baseball coach seek state compensation

Taipei, March 20 (CNA) The families of eight victims have filed state compensation claims relating to an elementary school baseball coach who allegedly molested dozens of children over a six-year period, the Taichung City government said Thursday.

In a press release, Taichung City Education Bureau said it had been in contact with parents of the victims to offer legal assistance and counselling services since the allegations of sexual abuse came to light late last year.

In total, the city government has contacted 22 families of 27 of the victims, of which eight have accepted legal assistance and filed claims for state compensation, the education bureau said.

In the case in question, the coach, surnamed Sung (松), was suspended from work after some of the victims' parents contacted the school on Oct. 26 last year. He was then fired on Nov. 11.

The case only became known to the public when Taichung City Councillor Chiang Ho-shu (江和樹) and several of the victims' parents held a press conference in December, where they detailed the allegations against Sung and criticized the school and Taichung education bureau for failing to prevent the abuse.

Prosecutors have since indicted Sung for offenses against sexual autonomy, alleging that he committed 90 offenses involving 32 victims.

The city government's response came after Chiang and several of the victims' parents held another press conference Thursday excoriating the school for its "negligence" in the case.

At the event, Chiang said that over 20 families of victims are interested in seeking state compensation, but are unsure whether their claims will be valid.

Although Sung was a contract employee and not a civil servant as public school teachers are, the city nevertheless bears responsibility for failing to do due diligence, and hiring a coach with a criminal history to work with children, Chiang said.

Chiang was referring to allegations confirmed last year that the accused coach was convicted of forced indecency in 2012, although his sentence was suspended for five years and thereafter expunged.

At the time, the Taichung Bureau of Education said that when the coach was hired in 2019, the school conducted a check against the Ministry of Education's database of individuals banned from working in education, but no red flags were found.