A man in his 20s drowned a teenager with an intellectual disability in the sea after losing at rock-paper-scissors

Victim Rejected but Pushed into the Sea
Gwangju District Court Sentences 4 Years for Assault Leading to Death

The court sentenced three individuals in their teens and twenties to prison for assault resulting in death, instead of murder, after they played rock-paper-scissors and caused a teenager with an intellectual disability to drown.

On the 22nd, the Criminal Division 1 of the Mokpo Branch of Gwangju District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Ji-hye) acquitted A (20), who was charged with murder, but applied the charge of assault resulting in death and sentenced him to four years in prison, according to a report by Yonhap News on the same day. The court also recognized the charges of joint assault against high school student B (16) and aiding joint assault against middle school student C (14), who were indicted alongside A, and decided to transfer them to the juvenile division of the Gwangju Family Court.

Gwangju District Court Mokpo Branch
[Photo by Yonhap News]

A and B were tried on charges of causing the death of victim D (18), who had an intellectual disability, by drowning him in the sea at the Bukhang pier floating dock in Mokpo, Jeollanam-do, on February 1. D was a student at a special school for the disabled. They proposed playing rock-paper-scissors with D, with the loser having to enter the sea. A and the others identified a specific pattern in D’s rock-paper-scissors moves and won the game. They forcibly pushed D, who could not swim, toward the sea, coercing him to enter the water. Ultimately, D drowned in the 4-meter deep sea, and C was charged with aiding the crime by filming the incident on her mobile phone.

The Coast Guard referred A and others on charges of death by gross negligence. However, the prosecution, after further analyzing CCTV footage, charged them with murder, believing they intentionally caused D to drown, but the court did not accept this.

The court accepted the defendants’ claims that they had been close friends with the victim for several years, there was no evidence of bullying, and that the victim fell into the water while they were joking around on the day of the incident, acquitting them of murder charges. The court stated, “The defendant caused the death of a victim with whom he was familiar by pushing him into a dangerous place,” and noted, “Considering the severity of the victim’s intellectual disability and the fatal outcome, the defendant’s responsibility is not light.” Regarding sentencing, the court explained, “However, since intent to murder is not recognized, charges such as assault resulting in death are applied for causing the death of a victim with a severe intellectual disability by pushing him into the dangerous place of the sea.”