Taxi Driver Accused of Murdering Jeju Childcare Teacher Acquitted by Supreme Court

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Supreme Court has finally acquitted the prime suspect in the childcare teacher murder case, known as the "Jeju version of Memories of Murder."

On the 28th, the Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Cheon Daeyeop) upheld the lower court's verdict of not guilty for Park Mo (52), who was indicted for violating the Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes and Protection of Victims (rape and murder).

Park was prosecuted on charges of attempting to sexually assault and then murdering childcare teacher A on February 1, 2009, in Jeju. Park, a taxi driver at the time, was investigated for attempting the crime after picking up A near an apartment. However, the police failed to find decisive evidence, and the case eventually became a long-term unsolved case.

In 2016, the police formed a special team for unsolved cases and resumed the investigation of this case, which was called the "Jeju version of Memories of Murder." Park was arrested in May 2018 in Yeongju, Gyeongbuk, nine years after the incident.

However, both the first and second trials found no direct evidence to support Park's guilt. The first trial ruled that the police had illegally obtained Park's jeans, and the animal hair found in Park's taxi was from a material similar to many clothes and could not be definitively identified as the same fiber.

The second trial also noted that the animal experiments were not conducted under fully controlled conditions, and considering the food A had consumed, it was difficult to conclude that A died on the day of disappearance.

The Supreme Court's judgment on this day was no different. The court stated, "There is no error in the lower court's judgment in terms of exceeding the limits of free evaluation of evidence or misunderstanding the law regarding the exclusion of illegally obtained evidence and its exceptions," and dismissed the prosecution's appeal.