Anxiously Clutching the Stroller, Jeong-in... CCTV Revealing Signs of Abuse Released

Elevator closed-circuit (CC)TV footage capturing signs of abuse by the adoptive mother in the 'Jung-in abuse death case,' where the child died due to abuse by adoptive parents at 16 months old. Photo by TV Chosun broadcast screen capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Ju-hee] In connection with the Jeong-in case, where a 16-month-old child died due to abuse by adoptive parents, CCTV footage suspected of showing abuse by the adoptive mother has been released.

According to a TV Chosun report on the 12th, CCTV footage taken in August last year in the elevator of the company where Jeong-in's adoptive father worked captured the adoptive mother, Ms. Jang, roughly pushing Jeong-in.

The released footage shows Ms. Jang pushing the stroller carrying Jeong-in roughly, causing it to hit the elevator wall. Jeong-in appeared anxious, tightly holding onto the stroller handle.

After the elevator door opened, Ms. Jang pushed the stroller forcefully outside the door again, and the impact caused Jeong-in's legs to point upwards. Despite this, Ms. Jang seemed unsettled and shook the stroller roughly in a nervous manner.

At the time, despite the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Jeong-in was not even wearing a mask. In contrast, Ms. Jang was wearing a mask.

Netizens who watched the footage expressed outrage, saying, "It’s chilling and horrifying to imagine how much abuse there must have been normally," "My heart aches seeing the instinctive grip on the handle and resistance," and "This is how she behaved where there was CCTV; imagine how much worse it was where there wasn’t."

On the 13th, the first trial of the adoptive parents accused of abusing their 16-month-old adopted daughter Jeong-in to death was held at the Seoul Southern District Court. Adoptive father Ahn is seen leaving the court after the trial. Photo by Yonhap News

Meanwhile, the 13th Criminal Division 13 of the Seoul Southern District Court (Presiding Judge Shin Hyuk-jae) held the first trial for the adoptive mother, Ms. Jang, on the 13th. At the trial, the prosecution requested to change the charge against Ms. Jang to 'murder.'

The original charge in Ms. Jang’s indictment was 'Violation of the Special Act on the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes (Child Abuse Resulting in Death),' but the prosecution submitted a request to the court to apply the murder charge as the primary accusation and demote the existing child abuse resulting in death charge to a subsidiary accusation.

The prosecution explained, "The essence of the amended charge is that the defendant knew that applying strong blunt force to the victim’s abdomen, who was continuously abused, could result in death, yet deliberately stomped strongly on the victim’s abdomen with her foot, causing blunt force trauma."

Ms. Jang’s defense acknowledged that abuse occurred but denied the charges of murder and child abuse resulting in death. The defense argued, "It was not intentional to cause the victim’s death," and "Although the victim was dropped, there was no application of blunt force strong enough to damage internal organs."