Two Child Victims and Rehabilitation Therapist Face Additional Charges
Police Confirm Victims Through Four Months of CCTV Analysis
Police are investigating after a complaint was filed alleging that a rehabilitation therapist in their 30s at a speech therapy center in Siheung-si, Gyeonggi Province, repeatedly assaulted children with disabilities. Additional reports of abuse involving other children under the therapist's care have since emerged.
According to victims and police on the 11th, a total of three complaints requesting punishment of rehabilitation therapist A, who worked at a speech therapy center in Siheung-si, on charges of child abuse have been filed as of that day. The first victim, known as B (7), had parents who submitted a complaint against A on the 13th of last month. Following media reports on the 3rd revealing this, two more complaints with similar allegations were added.
A is known to have been responsible for about 20 children at the center, raising the possibility that more victims may come forward. There are also claims from other children who have not yet filed complaints that A emotionally abused them by threatening to hit or yelling at them. After the abuse was uncovered, A was dismissed from the center.
According to the complaints, A worked at a speech therapy center in Siheung-si and conducted language therapy sessions for B from August to October. B was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and is reportedly unable to engage in typical daily conversations. B had attended the center without issues for the past two years, but after A replaced the previous instructor, B showed reluctance to attend starting from the third session. In early last month, B’s mother discovered handprint marks on her child’s face after a session and protested to the center. A initially claimed the marks were caused by scratching against a watch during class, but when B’s parents requested to see the center’s closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage, A finally admitted to the assault.
Reviewing the CCTV footage through the police, it was confirmed that except for the first two sessions, A strangled or pushed B’s neck, slapped B’s cheeks with hands, and even kicked B’s face. A committed severe physical abuse and did not properly conduct the sessions. The footage also showed A playing smartphone games with legs on the desk while B, frightened, sat quietly during class. Additionally, A was seen raising a hand as if to hit whenever B attempted to move.
Police secured and analyzed four months’ worth of CCTV recordings from the center and identified multiple instances of A’s assault, as well as additional victims. It was revealed that while conducting sessions with C, another child with similar disabilities as B, A slapped C’s face hard enough to turn the head and punched C’s chest forcefully. Following this, C’s parents also filed a complaint, prompting the police to expand their investigation.
After the case became public, A reportedly told the victims’ parents, “I was not in a good mood because I was recently scammed in a lease fraud, so I lightly hit the children.” A gave similar statements during police questioning and admitted to most of the allegations. The police, having already conducted one round of questioning with A, plan to summon A again for further investigation after completing the CCTV analysis of other victims.
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