The driver, daycare teacher, and director of a daycare center, who were brought to trial on charges of causing the death of a child after failing to notice the child had exited the daycare bus and subsequently running over the child, have been sentenced to prison terms.
The Jinju branch of the Changwon District Court, Criminal Division 3 (Chief Judge Kim Dohyung), sentenced driver A, who was indicted for violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents, to 1 year and 6 months in prison.
Additionally, daycare teacher B, who was brought to trial on charges of occupational negligence resulting in death, was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison, and daycare director C, charged with the same offense, was sentenced to 1 year in prison.
Imprisonment without labor means that the convicted individuals are incarcerated in prison but, unlike imprisonment with labor, are not required to perform forced labor.
According to the court, A was indicted for running over and killing a 19-month-old child with the daycare bus at a parking lot in Sancheong-eup, Sancheong-gun, on the morning of June 21 last year.
B was charged with failing to properly escort the children who exited the bus and hand them over to another daycare teacher, and C was brought to trial for failing to assign specific duties to the driver and daycare teacher.
At the time, the daycare vehicle driven by A departed the parking lot after letting the children off without ensuring their safety, and it was determined that A failed to notice and ran over a girl who was sitting outside on the right side of the vehicle.
The court pointed out that A "had a duty of care to ensure that all children who exited the bus had reached a safe location and to prevent accidents, but failed to fulfill this duty."
Regarding B and C, the court stated, "The daycare teacher was required to personally escort each child after they exited the bus, but instead allowed the victim to move alone to the meeting point without confirming her safety. The director failed to provide specific instructions or assign duties to the driver and daycare teacher regarding safety precautions."
The court further stated, "The victim's parents have spent over a year regretting their decision to send their child to the daycare center and have refused to accept the settlement money, instead petitioning for severe punishment for the defendants."
The court also explained, "However, one of the causes of this accident was the absence of collision detection sensors in the vehicle's front and side blind spots. Therefore, rather than imposing the maximum sentence under the sentencing guidelines, establishing legal mandatory safety devices may provide a more fundamental solution to prevent similar accidents in the future."
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