Four Singaporean men were detained by police in Taipei for allegedly raping two Taiwanese women, local media reported on Wednesday (Dec 13).
The quartet – who are in their early 20s and were identified by their surnames of Ong, Tan, Lau and Lim – were on holiday in Taiwan’s capital and had arrived last week.
They had met the women on social media and the six of them spent Sunday night at a club.
The men subsequently invited the women to their rented apartment in the Datong district, where they spent the rest of the night drinking and chatting.
There were conflicting reports, however, of how the alleged rape took place. Some news outlets said one of the men then allegedly brought one woman into a room and raped her, while the other three men took turns to sexually assault the second woman
Taiwan’s Central News Agency, quoting police and the Shilin District Prosecutors Office, said the men had become drunk and three of them sexually assaulted the two women. It said the fourth man did not take part in the alleged rape.
According to Taiwanese news outlet ETtoday, the two women left the apartment at around 4am on Monday (Dec 12).
One of the women then made a police report later that morning.
All four men were arrested by Taiwanese police in the shopping district of Ximenting on Tuesday afternoon. They had their luggage with them and were reportedly due to leave for Singapore that same day.
The fourth man who reportedly did not take part in the rape has since been granted bail of NT$15,000 (S$674), while the other three men are still in custody pending investigations.
The men have reportedly claimed that sex with the two women was consensual.