Taiwanese Woman Sentenced to Jail for Using Megaphone to Insult Neighbors at Night

Kaohsiung, Taiwan. What would it feel like to be suddenly awakened from a deep sleep in the middle of the night by someone shouting insults?

Residents of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, have been suffering from exactly this kind of ordeal for the past two years.

The antics of one eccentric female neighbor disturbed the sleep of dozens of people. Finally, the court sentenced the woman to jail time for this behavior.

The Kaohsiung court recently delivered its verdict against the woman, surnamed Chen. She had installed a sound system and a megaphone on her home balcony.

Starting in May 2023, she began using that megaphone to curse at her irritated neighbors. She would engage in this behavior at least three times a week, and always in the middle of the night.

Her voice was so loud that it disturbed the peace of even those neighbors who were not directly involved in any dispute. Each time, she would shout at maximum volume, and this continued for a long time.

After enduring this torment for nearly two years and ignoring attempts to reason with her, dozens of neighbors jointly filed a complaint with the police. The case eventually went to court.

In court, the woman admitted to shouting insults through the megaphone at night. However, she claimed she only did so occasionally because her neighbors were making noise and preventing her from sleeping.

But the judge dismissed her claim. The court ruled that deliberately using equipment to utter profanities and harass others in the middle of the night is unacceptable in society. For this, she was sentenced to three months in jail.

However, she was also given the option to avoid jail by paying a fine of 90,000 Taiwan Dollars. The woman retains the right to appeal this decision.

Previously, incidents where people were punished for making dogs bark loudly to annoy neighbors or playing loud music continuously for 16 years have been made public. Incidents have been reported.