A Taiwanese appeals court kept a two-year sentence but suspended it, sparing a college student jail time in a child sexual exploitation case that left the victim with severe depression.

• A 19-year-old man met the girl, who had just turned 12, through a mobile game and talked her into sending four explicit photos.
• He knew she was underage and pushed her with lines offering to send pictures of himself in return.
• The girl panicked over the images leaking, told her family, and is still in psychiatric treatment for depression and sleep problems.
• The high court suspended the sentence for five years, requiring him to pay the family about NT$500,000 and attend four legal education sessions.
• Judges cited his youth, guilty plea, single-parent low-income background and his mother's cancer, plus the fact the images were never shared.

Outlook: The case can still be appealed, and the suspended sentence is likely to fuel debate in Taiwan over whether penalties for online child exploitation are tough enough.