Uijeongbu District Court Sentences 2 Years Imprisonment and Orders Detention
Court: "Private Revenge Can Never Be Allowed"
The court sentenced three men in their 20s to prison for indiscriminately assaulting a high school student who had bullied the younger brother of one of the men.
On the 27th, the Uijeongbu District Court Criminal Division 3 (Judge Jeong Seohyeon) announced that it sentenced men in their 20s, A, B, and C, who were indicted on charges including special injury, to two years in prison each.
The three, who are friends, were tried for summoning high school student D to a street in Ildong-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi Province, at around 2:45 a.m. on September 17 last year, detaining him, and assaulting and threatening him. It is known that A assaulted D together with his friends because his younger brother, who is a high school student, was being bullied by D.
A and the others put D in a car and moved to a place without closed-circuit television (CCTV), where they collectively assaulted him dozens of times with fists and a golf club. They also took D to A’s house, forced him to kneel in front of A’s parents, and made him apologize. A threatened D with a weapon, saying, "If you report this, I will kill your entire family."
Earlier, on September 15 last year, A’s younger brother filed a complaint alleging that he was physically assaulted by D on a street in Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi Province. However, D’s family claimed, "D never committed school violence nor hit anyone," and argued, "He was actually supporting A’s younger brother, who had been drinking." D’s side reported A and others to the police, stating, "Due to the assault by A and others, ribs were broken and the Achilles tendon was ruptured, resulting in a six-week medical treatment period."
Subsequently, the school D attends held a School Violence Countermeasure Committee meeting on December 21 last year but concluded that "direct violent acts by D could not be confirmed." However, in a separate case in 2022, the school acknowledged that D "used abusive language and struck some parts of the body," and imposed a three-day suspension on D.
The trial court handling the assault case involving A and others stated, "A led a considerable degree of violent acts while interrogating whether his younger brother was being bullied," and added, "Even if the bullying of the younger brother is acknowledged, private retaliation after a complaint has already been filed can never be permitted." Regarding the sentencing rationale, the court explained, "Considering the victim’s age, the intensity of the violence, and the circumstances, the motive for the crime cannot be taken as a mitigating factor," and "There was no settlement with the victim, who is suffering from psychological damage." On this day, the court also ordered the detention of B and C, who had been indicted without detention, along with A, who had been on trial in custody.
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