New Taipei detains man for breaching protection order

The New Taipei District Court yesterday ordered a man to be detained incommunicado for allegedly breaching a protection order after his daughter was seen in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) wearing a sign with vulgar wording.

Prosecutors requested that the man be detained, as he was suspected of assault, coercion, endangering a juvenile’s development and breaching a protection order, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement on Tuesday.

The evidence raised concerns that the man could commit similar offenses or collude with witnesses, the office said.

Police officers escort a man accused of breaching a protection order after his daughter was seen wearing a sign with vulgar wording in New Taipei City on Tuesday.

Photo: CNA

The office did not specify what the man allegedly did, how his daughter came to be wearing the sign or what restrictions were in the protection order against him.

The case came to light on Monday after someone posted on Threads that a girl had been seen wearing a paper sign bearing her name and vulgar words including “thief” and “bastard” (畜生).

The girl appeared dazed and had injuries on her face and arms, and two people, believed to be family members, were seen urging her toward more crowded areas while recording the incident on their phones, the post said.

Police found that the girl’s father might have breached a protection order against him and arrested him, Ministry of Health and Welfare official Huang Jui-wen (黃瑞雯) said on Tuesday.

The girl was placed in protective care following the incident, Huang said.

The New Taipei City Social Welfare Department had already opened a case involving the girl and would take appropriate measures in response to the incident, Department of Protective Services Director-General Kuo Tsai-jung (郭彩榕) said.

The city’s Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Center had also applied for a protection order for the girl, Kuo added.

Asked why the girl had not been placed in protective care earlier, despite the existence of a protection order, Kuo said that such orders can contain provisions that would have still allowed the father and daughter to live together.

She did not specify what was in the protection order.

Breaching a protection order is a criminal offense that requires police intervention, Kuo said.

It carries a prison sentence of up to three years, Kuo added.