[사회]”In Seoul, people even kill people without asking…” Residents react ‘absurd’ to sexual assault in island village

◆Attorney Wonhwa Lee (hereinafter referred to as Wonhwa Lee): We went through the same thing at the same time, in the same space, but why do stories come out 180 degrees different when describing an incident? In 2016, a very ugly crime that I don’t even want to mention occurred on an island called Heuksando in Shinan-gun, Jeollanam-do. It was an incident in which three men, who were parents and residents of the village, gang-raped Ms. A, a woman who was working as an elementary school teacher in Heuksan Island. Even though there was enough evidence, their attitude of denying the crime and saying they had no recollection of it further inflamed public opinion at the time. But that wasn’t all. An even bigger controversy arose when interviews with some local residents who seemed to give priority to the perpetrators over the victims at the time were made public. But it is said that this was not the end of the controversy. What other amazing things happened? Case X-Files starts right now. hello. This is Lee Won-hwa, the X-file of lawyer Lee Won-hwa’s case. Today, we are joined by attorney Kang-ho Kim of Roel Law Firm. Welcome, lawyer.

◇Attorney Kang-ho Kim (hereinafter Kang-ho Kim): Yes, hello. My name is Kang-ho Kim, an attorney at Roel Law Firm.

◆Lee Won-hwa: The incident we will look at today occurred in Heuksando, an island village in Shinan-gun, Jeollanam-do. I remember this incident quickly garnering attention because a post asking for help for the girlfriend was posted on an internet community at the time.

◇Kim Kang-ho: Yes, that’s right. On the 23rd, the day after the incident, the person presumed to be Mr. A’s boyfriend posted a post on an Internet community titled “Please help. My girlfriend was gang raped” and asked for help from netizens.

◆Wonhwa Lee: What happened?

◇ Kang-ho Kim: On May 21, 2016, around 6 p.m., A, a female teacher who worked at an elementary school on an island in Shinan-gun, stopped by a raw fish restaurant run by her parent, Mr. Park. On this day, it was Saturday, and all the fellow teachers who were staying at the official residence had gone out to land, so Mr. A went to the restaurant alone to eat. The restaurant is about 2km away from the school building, so Mr. A often visited this place for meals. Mr. Park, the restaurant owner and parent, welcomed Mr. A, a female teacher who came to eat alone. At the meal, he naturally offered me a drink and even invited Mr. Lee, a neighbor who runs aquaculture, to join me. It is known that Mr. Park and Mr. Lee have a close relationship, to the point where they call him uncle and nephew. Mr. A is not a good drinker and had plans to travel the next day, but at Mr. Park’s urging, he drank about 10 glasses of ginseng wine. The liquor that Mr. A drank was a strong liquor of about 35 to 43 degrees, and he became so drunk that he vomited twice while drinking. When Mr. A became drunk and lost consciousness, Mr. Park drove him to his official residence in a car around 11 p.m. On the day of the incident, all other teachers had gone to land, so only Mr. A was staying at the official residence. However, Mr. Park entered the dormitory and sexually assaulted Mr. A.

◆Lee Won-hwa: There were four people, including a female teacher, at a drinking party, and one of them committed sexual assault?

◇Kim Kang-ho: Yes, but that wasn’t the end. Afterwards, Mr. Lee arrived at the official residence by car. After confirming that Mr. Park’s car had left the residence, Mr. Lee entered the residence and sexually assaulted Mr. A. Mr. Park then called Mr. Kim.

◆Lee Won-hwa: That’s strange. Why did you call me?

◇Kim Kang-ho: I think it was to ask me to come to the dorm. After receiving a call from Mr. Park, Mr. Kim showed up at the lodging, sent Mr. Lee out, and then sexually assaulted Mr. A. After a while, Mr. Lee returned to the dorm and sexually assaulted her again.

◆Lee Won-hwa: After listening to the story, I think the three people were plotting sexual assault from the beginning. So, I have a suspicion that a phone call may have been exchanged. First of all, how did this situation become known?

◇ Kang-ho Kim: This incident could have been buried, but the female teacher responded courageously and calmly. Mr. A came to his senses and called 112 at 2:02 a.m. on the 22nd. The dispatched police brought Mr. A to the police station and helped him stabilize, and did their best in the initial investigation, including collecting primary evidence such as a blanket and semen using an emergency kit.

◆Lee Won-hwa: That’s good.

◇Kim Kang-ho: The police station then contacted the local public health center, but learned that the public health center did not have the conditions to collect evidence of sexual assault. Accordingly, measures were taken to allow Mr. A to take the first boat to Mokpo for an accurate examination. I did it. After resting at the police station, Mr. A waited for the first boat without washing himself, following the police station chief’s instructions regarding evidence collection.

◆Lee Won-hwa: I was really surprised and scared, and I must have had a lot of mental shock, but I think I reacted very calmly and well.

◇Kim Kang-ho: Yes, that’s right. Meanwhile, during the initial police investigation, Mr. Park, Mr. Lee, and Mr. Kim all denied the charge of sexual assault. Afterwards, Mr. Park admitted to the charge of sexual harassment, but claimed that he only took the teacher to his official residence and touched him because the restaurant had to be closed, and that he did not sexually assault him, and emphasized that he covered the teacher with a blanket in the restaurant. Mr. Lee also denied the charge of sexual assault, saying that he went to Mr. A’s residence to return the cell phone that Mr. A had left in the restaurant. Mr. Kim said that since the lights were on and no one was in the restaurant, he called Mr. Park, and Mr. Lee went to Mr. A’s lodgings. He denied the charges, saying that he saw him go in and that he went to the official residence after being told to go and check in case something happened.

◆Lee Won-hwa: Did you say that because you thought there would be no evidence?

◇Kim Kang-ho: Yes, that’s right. However, Mr. Park’s body hair was found inside the blanket at the official residence. In addition, as a result of the National Forensic Service DNA test, the DNA of Mr. Lee and Mr. Kim was detected in Mr. A’s body, confirming the crime. Mr. Lee and Mr. Kim, who strongly denied the charges, are known to have admitted to the charges after DNA was detected.

◆Lee Won-hwa: The crime itself was evil and should not have occurred, but what he said during police investigation is truly outrageous. It’s so shocking that we’re all human beings.

◇Kim Kang-ho: This is a case where a serious crime was committed against my child’s teacher. In addition, during the trial, it was revealed that they filmed the rape of Mr. A with their cell phones.

◆Lee Won-hwa: That’s shocking.

◇ Kang-ho Kim: And although the attitude of the perpetrators at the time caused considerable anger, there were other people who caused anger.

◆Wonhwa Lee: What was the situation?

◇ Kang-ho Kim: That was the reaction of the residents. One resident said, “In Seoul, people are killed and dismembered just because you don’t ask, but young people can do that. If you think that way, you have nowhere to go, so if you’re worried, don’t come.” You know the other residents are men. Men who live alone say that even if they are in their 80s, they cannot withstand such temptation. Another resident says the atmosphere is not good. There were reactions that did not consider the victims, such as saying, “It would be nice to do it moderately because customers would also fall.”

◆Lee Won-hwa: Of course, not all residents agreed with that opinion, but as was the case in the salt farm slave incident in Shinan-gun, Jeollanam-do, should we say that it is selfishness in a closed area called an island? I think it was a moment when I had a lot to think about in many ways.

◇Kim Kang-ho: Yes, that’s right. Although these are comments made by some residents, they leave me with a bitter feeling.

◆Lee Won-hwa: Of course, it would have been handed over to trial, and I’m curious about what charges were applied and what the sentence was.

◇Kim Kang-ho: All three were charged with rape and causing death in violation of the Sexual Violence Punishment Act, Mr. Lee was charged with using a camera, etc. in violation of the Sexual Violence Punishment Act, and Mr. Kim was charged with rape and other injuries in violation of the Sexual Violence Punishment Act and home invasion and rape in violation of the Sexual Violence Punishment Act. Each addition has been applied. And the prosecution requested 17, 22, and 25 years in prison for Park, Lee, and Kim, respectively. The court sentenced them to 10, 12, and 15 years in prison, respectively.

◆Lee Won-hwa: Among the defendants you mentioned, Mr. Kim seems to have received almost the highest sentence. How was he different from the other defendants?

◇Kim Kang-ho: Mr. Kim was revealed as the culprit of an unsolved case in which he broke into a studio in Daejeon in 2007, subdued a 20-year-old woman with his fists, and sexually assaulted her. At the time, the investigative authorities were keeping the criminal’s DNA, and after the female teacher sexual assault incident, it was discovered that it matched Mr. Kim’s DNA, so the charge was added.

◆Lee Won-hwa: It was really varied. Anyway, the most controversial part of this trial was whether or not they conspired in advance. Why was this important legally?

◇ Kang-ho Kim: If the collusion relationship is recognized, each person will be held jointly responsible for the attempted aggravated rape, but if it is denied, he or she will be punished only for his or her own attempted aggravated rape. First, as a result of the police’s CCTV analysis, it was confirmed that Lee’s car left 30 seconds after Park’s car left the raw fish restaurant. 20 minutes after Mr. Lee’s car left, Mr. Kim also headed to his official residence. Second, it was confirmed through CCTV that the three suspects met about 100 meters away from the official residence around 1:00 a.m. on the 22nd, immediately after the crime. Third, circumstances were also captured where the three met again at Mr. Park’s restaurant around 7 a.m. on the same day. Lastly, Mr. Park and Mr. Kim attempted to make phone calls six times in two hours before and after the crime. Mr. Kim called Mr. Park, who did not answer the phone, five times in a row.

◆Lee Won-hwa: Of course, the charge of conspiracy was admitted, right?

◇Kim Kang-ho: Unfortunately, in the first trial, conspiracy was not recognized for some of the charges of attempted aggravated rape. They committed two crimes each at midnight on the 21st. In the first crime, the victim resisted strongly and all three men failed to commit the crime, but they attempted the crime again after midnight and sexually assaulted the victim, who was completely asleep. The first trial judged that they did not conspire for the first crime by noting that they initially traveled to the official residence in different vehicles, and sentenced them to 12, 13, and 18 years in prison, respectively.

◆Lee Won-hwa: I actually don’t understand why the collusion relationship wasn’t recognized in the first place. Because even if it is not a prior conspiracy, I think it could at least be seen as a conspiracy while committing the crime at the scene or just before the crime. The appellate court would have been a little different, right?

◇Kang-ho Kim: It wasn’t so. Rather, the appeals court sentenced the perpetrators to 7, 8, and 10 years in prison, respectively, on the grounds that they had reached an agreement with the victims.

◆Lee Won-hwa: I’m sure there are some people listening who don’t understand why the victim agreed to the agreement. Attorney, but there are some parts that aren’t easy when dealing with this legally, right?

◇Kim Kang-ho: Yes, that’s right. I don’t know the exact reason for the agreement, but I think the perpetrator’s continued demands for agreement may have been a burden as a teacher, or the student may have been concerned that the perpetrator was a parent.

◆Lee Won-hwa: Anyway, I remember that at the time, when the appeal trial sentence came out, public opinion was extremely angry. It ended up going to the Supreme Court, right?

◇Kim Kang-ho: Yes, fortunately, the Supreme Court did not recognize the defendants’ joint crimes in the second trial and sent them back to the High Court, overturning the original trial ruling by saying that conspiracy crimes were recognized for some of the charges for which they were acquitted, and asking them to re-judge the guilt. . The high court, which returned the case, sentenced her to 10, 12, and 15 years in prison, which was a higher sentence than the appellate trial, and ordered her to complete 40 hours of sexual violence treatment classes. The perpetrators appealed, but the appeal was eventually dismissed and the above sentence was confirmed. This concluded the two-year trial.

◆Lee Won-hwa: The X-Files Case Today, we looked at an ugly case that should never happen again, where a female teacher was forced to drink alcohol and committed gang rape. It was an incident that shocked Korea in many ways. It took as many as five trials and two years for the perpetrators to receive a proper verdict. In fact, it seems like a question mark remains whether the punishment for the sins committed is sufficient. You are all people who deserve to be defended. Thank you, Incident X-Files.

YTN Kim Se-ryeong ([email protected])