TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A former preschool teacher was convicted on Friday (Aug. 16) of 224 counts of sexual assault and filming of minors at a Taipei preschool and sentenced to 28 years in prison. 

Taipei District Court Friday found Mao guilty on all counts but the ruling is subject to appeal, per CNA. 

In August 2023, Mao Chun-shen (毛畯珅) a teacher and the son of the owner of Taipei Piramide School (台北市私立培諾米達幼兒園), was indicted for sexually abusing six girls at the school. 

At the trial, the prosecutor received complaints from the parents of at least 20 other girls and uncovered evidence that Mao was involved in filming videos of young girls being sexually abused. The investigation into these additional allegations is ongoing.

Parents first expressed their concerns about Mao to the school in July 2022. However, after examining surveillance footage, police were unable to find sufficient evidence and dropped the case. 

However, in August 2023, a female student told her parents she was molested by Mao. In a subsequent investigation, prosecutors determined that Mao had sexually assaulted six girls at the school from 2022 to 2023, and told the girls not to disclose the incidents. 

Prosecutors indicted Mao that same month on charges of sexual assault. After Mao's arrest, the prosecutor requested and was granted his detention with restricted communication.

During the trial, Mao denied the charges of sexual assault. Taipei District Court summoned the girls, their parents, kindergarten teachers, and psychologists, and reviewed surveillance footage from the preschool, injury reports, and psychological counseling records. 

The court noted that Mao comes from a good family background and has a solid educational foundation, including professional knowledge of childcare. 

The court heard that despite knowing the victims were all under 7 years old and incapable of giving or withholding consent, he committed acts that violated their sexual autonomy for his gratification. These offenses occurred for a year against numerous victims, and the nature of the crimes was “extremely egregious," said the court.

Taipei District Court found Mao guilty of 11 counts of aggravated rape against minors, and 207 counts of aggravated indecent assault against minors, and six counts of filming children to make sexually explicit footage against their will. The total penalty for these 224 counts would amount to 1,252 years and six months in prison.

The court considered the significant physical and psychological harm Mao caused to the victims, his poor attitude after the crimes, the types and frequency of offenses, the nature of the legal interests violated, and the severity of the repeated offenses. Based on these factors, it was determined that he should serve a 28-year prison sentence, but the case is subject to appeal.