Man in Pingtung Sentenced to 2 Years for Assaulting Infant Under One Year Old

According to reports from Central News Agency, a man surnamed Du from Pingtung County, Taiwan, repeatedly assaulted his infant child—under one year of age—for a period of eight months, resulting in serious injuries including a fracture of the occipital bone of the skull and left-sided epidural hemorrhage. Both the first and second instance courts convicted him of intentional child abuse by an adult and sentenced him to two years in prison. The Supreme Court recently rejected his appeal, finalizing the verdict.

Court rulings indicate that Du, the biological father of the victim, assaulted the infant multiple times at their residence on November 23, 2022, and February 5, April 12, 22, and 24, 2023. The assaults, carried out with bare hands, caused bruising and swelling around the eyes, redness on the right thigh, and bruising on the head, abdomen, and upper arms. These earlier acts of abuse were not prosecuted due to the expiration of the statutory period for filing charges, and prosecutors decided not to pursue them.

The court found that between August 1 and August 11, 2023, Du forcefully pulled the infant’s arm, causing a fracture of the right ulna. On the evening of August 11, he struck the infant’s head with his bare hands, resulting in a fracture of the left occipital bone and left-sided epidural hemorrhage.

The case was filed by the infant’s mother, a woman surnamed Sun, and the Pingtung County Government. After investigation, the Pingtung District Prosecutors Office indicted Du on charges of injury under domestic violence laws.

In the first trial, the Pingtung District Court emphasized that Du, as the caregiver, had a duty to protect the child but instead subjected the infant—only a few weeks old at the start—to repeated physical abuse over eight months, targeting vulnerable areas such as the head and eyes, causing severe harm. The court deemed strict punishment necessary. However, it also considered Du’s claims of stress from work, debt, and childcare responsibilities, his full admission of guilt, and his mediation agreement with the mother to pay NT$15,000 monthly in child support. Taking these factors into account, the court sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment.

Du appealed the verdict. The Kaohsiung Branch of Taiwan’s High Court reviewed the case and concluded that the original two-year sentence, though at the lower end of the sentencing range, was appropriate given the prolonged duration of abuse, the victim’s extreme vulnerability as an infant under one year old, and the severity of the injuries. The court therefore rejected the appeal in late 2023.

The case was further appealed to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the lower courts had correctly applied the facts and law, and that the sentence was reasonable. On June 11, 2024, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, finalizing the conviction. (Edited by Li Shu-hua)