Victim Left Uninformed of Offender’s Release for Three Months
Prosecution Admits Notification Failure Due to Staff Error
The story of a victim who was unaware for three months that her rapist had been released from prison has come to light.
According to Yonhap News on the 16th, a woman in her 30s, identified as A, living in Busan, was raped by a man in his 70s, identified as B, in July 2021 while returning home after going out. Immediately after the incident, A reported the crime to the police. After a year and five months of legal proceedings, the court sentenced B to five years in prison and ordered him to complete 40 hours of a sexual assault treatment program.
Following the criminal trial, A filed a civil lawsuit against B seeking compensation for damages. After winning the case, A contacted the prison where B was incarcerated and repeatedly seized a certain amount from his inmate account. However, in April of this year, when A called the prison as usual to seize the funds, the official told her that B had been transferred to another facility. In order to seize B’s assets, A needed to know the correctional facility to which he had been moved, but the correctional authorities said they could not provide this information due to privacy reasons.
After going through several difficult steps to track down the information, A eventually learned that B had already been released on parole due to illness. She only found this out in July, more than three months after B’s release.
According to the Criminal Procedure Act and the Crime Victim Protection Act, the relevant prosecutor’s office is required to promptly notify crime victims or their legal representatives of any facts regarding the perpetrator’s detention or release if requested.
Victim: "My panic disorder has relapsed and I am receiving hospital treatment"
A said, "For a while, I stopped carrying a stun gun, but if the perpetrator had come after me with malicious intent, I would not have been able to do anything." She continued, "Recently, my condition had improved and I had stopped taking psychiatric medication, but my panic disorder has relapsed and I am now receiving hospital treatment. I received no notification for three months, and if I had not taken the initiative, I would still not know about his release," she appealed.
Prosecution: "Notification to the victim was delayed due to staff error"
The prosecution explained that this incident occurred due to a staff member’s mistake.
A prosecution official stated, "The department in charge of parole at the Busan District Prosecutors’ Office notified the victim support officer about B’s release, but due to a staff member’s error, notification to the victim was delayed." The official added, "Since April, we have implemented a victim notification system that automatically provides information on major criminal procedures, but it is taking considerable time to link the systems. We will work with relevant agencies to improve the system and expand automatic notifications for all criminal procedures."
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