10 Apr – Makiyo of Taiwan who allegedly beat up a taxi driver a few months back, burst out laughing in court when the audio of the incident was being played, according to the May Daily website.

In the recording, Makiyo could be heard shouting, "Beat him up! Hit him!" She also said, "What do you want!" in a dirty dialect slang. Though Makiyo has admitted that it was her voice, she said it was very characteristic of her drunk self.

She then further claimed that her Japanese boyfriend Takateru Tomoyori was not involved in the beating of the 55-year-old driver.

The taxi driver's wife was furious over the matter citing that she would never forgive the two for assaulting her husband and lying in court, she plans to appeal the case to the High Court

She said the two were "disrespectful" when addressing the court.

While Makiyo and her boyfriend managed to buy their way out of jail-time with an outside settlement of NT$ 3 million (S$ 127,000), the plaintiff declined to withdraw the charges.

On 15 Mar, prosecutors had asked for a suspended sentence of two years for Tomoyori and one year and four months for Makiyo.