Makiyo Taxi Scandal- The story so far

I guess by now the whole Makiyo and the taxi driver scandal would have been old news, yet it is still very riveting how the whole story unfolded. In case you want to know the story so far, here it is.

Who is Makiyo?

She's a half Japanese half Taiwanese celebrity host/model (kinda like Paris Hilton but without the pedigree). She's Japanese but came to Taiwan to seek her fortune.She was a regular on the Taiwanese variety show scene and was famous for her full figure,cutesy voice, and pretty face. She was also much rumoured to be Show Luo's ex-girlfriend.

She was just paid a small fortune to pose only in soap bubbles to promote a certain body wash (the company is probably totally regretting it's decision now- wasted money for bad publicity.)

Then on February 10th 2012, Makiyo's downfall began.

She was purportedly involved in the taxi scandal when her ' guy friend', Takateru Tomoyori was caught for beating up a taxi driver so bad that the poor uncle suffered intracranial haemorrhage and had to be warded in the Intensive Care Unit. At the time, Makiyo and her 2 friends, Yazi and Xiang Yi (celebrity calarefares) were also at the scene.

Tomoyori admitted to beating up the cab driver and claimed he was the only one responsible. His claim was backed up by all 3 girls. And so it seems that was the end of the story. In f act they even had a press conference to clear the air that Makiyo was in no way involved in the crime.

In the press conference, Makiyo explained that after they had gone on the taxi, they immediately buckled up, but the taxi driver was rude to them. When they were about to pay the taxi driver somehow brushed against her (breast as reported by many news reels but not mentioned in this particular clip). As a result her friend who was under the influence of alcohol got mad and beat the taxi uncle up.

And that was that. Until...

A taxi driver in Taiwan who had unwittingly taped the whole action from the pre-installed cameras on cabs in Taiwan, revealed his footage to the police. The police however released the footage to the news station instead of producing the evidence in court. The judge found out about the footage by tuning in to the local news.

This is the footage that was recorded.

The footage may be grainy, but it was clear enough to see that Tomoyori was not the only one who was hitting the cab driver.A female with long hair in a white coat also joined by kicking the already on the ground cab driver with her high heel shoes while her two friends stood by the side.In fact Tomoyori was seen trying to restrain her from further injuring the cab driver.

The lies Makiyo had spun were out of the bag, and led to a huge public outlash against her. Miss Makiyo had no choice but to come out with her 2 friends to apologize to the public.

She also went to the hospital with her cancer-stricken mother (for sympathy votes) to visit the poor cab driver.

In case you're still interested, here's a reenactment of what happened that eventful night.

So how did this story end?

Here's the news on the latest development.Taken from ChannelNewsAsia website:

"At a Taipei District Court hearing, however, both parties told the court that they had reached a settlement of NT$3 million (S$128,300) with the cab driver and will complete the deal by the next hearing on April 5.
Tomoyori and Makiyo will share the payment in equal amounts, according to one of his friends.
In the indictment, prosecutors had asked for a prison term of six years for Tomoyori and four years for Makiyo.
In light of the settlement, however, prosecutors suggested lighter sentences with probation."

So the thing is, Makiyo might not have to go to jail for having a go at the taxi driver, but her two innocent bystander friends, may be charged and do some jail time for providing false information to help Makiyo, cos they have no way they can settle that with money. Sad fact of life. Don't break the law for your friend!