An acupuncturist who claims she can detect a man’s virginity based on a small dot on the ear has become a minor celebrity in Vietnam, where she is credited with helping to free three convicted rapists from prison.
Traditional medicine practitioner Pham Thi Hong started lobbying for the men’s release, pleading their case all the way to the President, because she believes all three men are virgins and therefore could not be guilty of rape.
“They all had small red spots on the back of their ears,” said Hong, 54. “The spots should have disappeared if they had had sex. My many years of experience told me that these men did not have sex before.”
Her claims are unusual even for a country where acupuncture and traditional medicine are still common remedies, but Hong’s determination to have the case reopened — even threatening to light herself on fire — led to prosecutors re-examining the case. The convictions eventually were suspended due to flaws by initial investigators.
“Thanks to her efforts, investigators revisited the case which otherwise could have been buried,” said Nong Thi Hong Ha, a lawyer for one of the freed men. Hong says she discovered the spot on Nguyen Dinh Kien’s ear the first time he visited her four years ago. He was brought to the hospital from prison, where he was serving a 16-year sentence. —AP