Vietnam bride: I was tortured

asiaone

STARVED, PIERCED WITH NEEDLES, CUT WITH KNIFE

IT is a shocking tale of abuse.

The Taiwanese man allegedly pierced his Vietnamese bride’s fingers with needles and soaked her hands in salt water.

He also allegedly shot rubber bands at her eyelids and used a wooden pole and knife to hit and cut her back.

After less than a year of abuse, Liu Cheng-chi, 39, allegedly abandoned Ms Tuan Jih-ling, now 20, at the side of a road.

Ms Tuan was allegedly confined to the house and given one meal a day, reported Apple Daily Taiwan.

In a year, she shrank from a slim 40kg to just 20kg.

Liu apparently inflicted all this pain on his bride because he believed she had given him a sexually-transmitted disease (STD).

This tale of revenge was revealed in a Taiwanese court recently, as Liu and his ex-wife Lin Li-ju, 34, who allegedly helped him in the abuse, were put on trial.

They are charged with enslaving and abusing Ms Tuan, who has since recovered from her injuries.

It all began when Liu and Lin, who have a daughter together, were desperate for a son.

Lin apparently decided Liu should take another wife. The couple divorced and Liu went on a matchmaking trip to Vietnam, where he met Ms Tuan.

Upon his return to Taiwan, he felt unwell. A doctor told him that he had a bacterial infection but Liu reportedly suspected that Ms Tuan, who had been a hostess in a hotel previously, had given him an STD.

Ms Tuan moved to Taiwan in April 2002.

It was only then she realised that Liu and Lin were already divorced but were still living together with their daughter.

Just three months after she arrived, Liu and Lin reportedly started torturing Ms Tuan.

The torture came to an end only in February 2003, when Liu and Lin are said to have become worried that they might kill Ms Tuan with their abuse.

That was when they allegedly abandoned her at the side of a road.

Ms Tuan stumbled into a restaurant and begged for a meal.

A police report was made and she was sent to hospital.

Liu appeared in court wearing a monk’s robes and reciting Buddhist chants.

He claimed to be mentally ill.

However, after investigation, the authorities concluded that neither Liu nor Lim were mentally ill when they inflicted the torture.

If found guilty, they could be jailed for up to seven years.

-- MA CO HO CHI MINH - (MoiRoHoChiMinh@damtac.net), June 22, 2004