An Indonesian man has been jailed for three and a half years in Taiwan after being convicted of raping a maid from his homeland in May 2016.
The defendant and the victim, who were not named, were migrant workers in Taichung City in central Taiwan who met online in March 2015, The Liberty Times reported.
On May 15 in 2016, the woman accompanied the man when he went to Asean Square in the city to buy a new mobile phone.
The pair finished shopping at around 5pm and the man told the woman he wanted to take a shower to refresh himself at a budget hotel nearby, where she could also use the toilet to relieve herself. He reassured her that he had no other intention.
But once they were in the room, the man pushed the victim onto the bed, pressed himself against her body and forced a kiss on the woman.
The victim struggled hard, pushing the man away. But the accused then removed the pin to her hijab and threatened to stab her in the eye and blind her. He kept threatening to kill her if she made any sound while he sexually assaulted her.
Though she wanted to flee, the man had all her clothes. She stayed calm and asked the man to be responsible by marrying her. He eventually agreed to let her take photos of his identity document.
Two hours later, the man had sexual intercourse with the woman again, despite her pleading him not to. After the second assault, the accused allowed her to go.
The maid reported the incident to her employer immediately when she returned home. The case was taken up by police and ended with a court ruling on Tuesday.
The defendant claimed that the woman consented to sex. However, a judge in the Taichung District Court dismissed that, saying she was raped and sex was against the victim’s will as she was clearly under threat.
So, the man was sentenced to three years and six months in jail and will be deported back to Indonesia once he serves his sentence.