Fake Taiwan shaman sentenced for sexual abuse of young woman

Jan 8, 2009, 23:08 GMT

Taipei - A Taiwan man has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years' imprisonment for posing as a shaman and having sex with a young woman under the pretense of an exorcism, a newspaper reported Friday.

The Hsinchu District Court in west Taiwan sentenced Yang Jih-hua, 59, on Thursday on his conviction of rape, for having sex with the victim 13 times in 2007 and impregnating her, the Liberty Times said.

Yang met the victim in early 2007 when she was 20 and was buying lottery tickets. Seeing her pale and weak, Yang said he had spiritual power and asked the woman to contact him so that he could treat her illness.

The woman visited Yang a few days later. He told the victim that she was possessed by ghosts and must visit him once every week - for a total of 50 visits - so that he could perform rituals 'to drive out ghosts.'

On a later visit in April 2007, Yang told the victim that she was possessed by the ghosts of those she had harmed in her previous life, and he should have sex with her to cleanse her of the ghosts' semen. He also gave the woman powder medicine to take.

From April-July 2007, Yang had sex with the woman 13 times. His fraud was exposed when the woman's mother found her daughter's health had deteriorated and that she was pregnant.

The mother made her daughter have an abortion, and a DNA test showed that the foetus was Yang's child, the Liberty Times said.

When Yang appeared in court, he insisted that Buddha appointed him to be a shaman. He denied molesting the woman, saying he only gave her treatment and powder medicine.