PUBLISHED ONDecember 03, 2024 10:26 AMByYeo Shu HuiTaiwanese host Mickey Huang has been sentenced to eight months in prison for possessing sexually explicit images of minors, the Taipei District Court announced on Tuesday (Dec 3).
Taiwanese media reported that the 52-year-old entertainer was charged under the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act by the Taipei District Court this morning.
In addition to the jail sentence, he was also slapped with a fine of NT$100,000 (S$4,130) for the possession of 48 pornographic content of underaged girls.
Mickey can still appeal the case.
The court also revealed that he was found to be in possession of as many as 2,259 explicit content of 35 minors between the ages of 10 and 17.
He had made the purchases from photographer forum Creative Private Room — of which he was a senior member — for a decade, since February 2014.
Mirror Media previously reported that members of Creative Private Room who have been authenticated by their real names are allowed to access more content, including a series of videos showing elementary school girls and women who had been drugged before being sexually assaulted.
The Taipei Court reportedly highlighted Mickey's confession during the investigation that he'd bought the explicit content to "relieve stress", noting that this happened even after stiffer penalties for child sexual exploitation was imposed in February 2023. In his defence, Mickey claimed that "he did not know the law", a plea which was thrown out by the judge.
Mickey troubles began when internet celebrity Zofia accused him of sexual abuse in June 2023. She revealed that he'd forced a kiss on her more than 10 years ago when she was 17 and took nude photos of her.
He later apologised for his actions in three Facebook videos the same day which were taken to be an implicit admission of his guilt, before attempting suicide.
Despite the accusations, Zofia did not file a lawsuit and the prosecution closed the sexual assault allegation case. However, investigations revealed that he had actually purchased hundreds of explicit content, including those of minors, charges of which Mickey admitted to in April.
However, during the first court hearing in July 2024, he retracted his earlier confession and challenged the prosecution's evidence.
During the second hearing in Aug, prosecutors revealed that they discovered explicit content involving another 41 minors — some as young as 11 years old — in Mickey's possession.
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