Man convicted of child pornography has 104-year jail term upheld

TAIPEI - The Supreme Court has upheld a Taiwan High Court's decision to sentence a man convicted of soliciting nude photos from more than 80 underage girls to a prison term of 104 years and two months, with two other crimes remanded to a lower court for retrial.

The conviction and 104-year two-month sentence is final and cannot be appealed, according to Central news agency (CNA).

The 26-year old man, identified only by his surname Lin, was convicted of illicitly enticing 81 girls, some as young as eight years old, into taking nude and obscene photos and sending them to him via social media platforms, the Supreme court said in its ruling March 10.

Those actions were carried out between May 2014 and July 2017, and Lin was subsequently expelled from a post-graduate programme at National Taiwan University's (NTU's) College of Medicine when the allegations first surfaced in 2017.

CNA’s report added that when Lin was arrested in 2017 and was put on trial in the Taipei District court, he confessed to all of the charges against him and was sentenced to three years in prison for violating the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act.

In sentencing Lin, the district court ruled that multiple actions violating the same law are legally considered to be one offence.

In December 2021, however, the Taiwan High court ruled that every solicitation of nude photos constituted a separate case and that Lin had committed more than 80 separate violations of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act.

As a result, it handed down a combined sentence of 106 years and 10 months, citing the large number of victims.

That ruling was appealed.

In its verdict last week, the Supreme Court said that while it agreed with most of the High Court's rulings against Lin, two alleged crimes involving one of the victims needed further clarification, and those cases were sent back to the lower court for retrials.

The Supreme Court also reduced Lin's prison sentence to 104 years and two months, and its decision was final, CNA reported.

According to the Taiwan High Court ruling, a 15-year- old girl accused Lin of luring her into sending him nude photos of herself so that both of them could "enjoy each other's body."

It was later found that Lin had been carrying out similar actions since 2014, using a fake name and profile image to lure some 81 underage girls and share their nude photos with other child pornographers, the court said.

Citing the statements of several victims, the court said that once the girls sent the first photos, Lin would then solicit other pictures, threatening to expose the girls' actions to their families and others if they refused. - BERNAMA