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omonatheydid
Trigger Warning:
A former administrative director sacked from Gwangju Inwha School, shut down last year, was sentenced to 12 years in prison Thursday for raping a deaf student.
Gwangju District Court handed down the prison sentence to the convicted man, surnamed Kim, for tying the victim’s hands and feet and raping her.
The sentence was five years longer than the seven years the prosecution had demanded.
Kim’s case stirred public outcry when it became known through a film, “The Crucible” (Dogani) in 2011.
The court also ordered the 63-year-old to wear an electronic anklet, and his personal information be disclosed on the Internet for 10 years after his release.
“Due to the film, the case became widely known, leading to growing calls for stricter punishment for sexual assaults against the disabled, resulting in tougher sentencing guidelines,” said Lee Sang-hyon, the presiding judge.
“The gravity of the crime was immense because the school official responsible for protecting the students, abused his position and took advantage of the fact that the disabled students were unable to resist or report the crime.”
Even though the victim dropped out of school and had difficulty maintaining her daily life due to the tremendous physical and mental pain inflicted by the attack, Kim had denied the charges, the judge said, explaining his reasons for the heavy sentence.
Protesters fighting so that there won’t be another “Dogani.” (image and caption thanks to KoreanBeacon)
“We hope that the court’s ruling will become a precedent for future trials on sexual violence committed to minors and the disabled,” said Kim Yong-mok, head of the committee on sexual violence at the school, closed last year, located in the southwestern city of Gwangju.
Kim as well as other school officials and teachers were indicted in April 2005, for raping the student who was 18 years old at the time. They had also been charged for assaulting another student aged 17, who had witnessed the incident.
Kim and other teachers at the time had been cleared of the charges by the local court, which had ruled that the victims were not in a situation in which they couldn’t resist.
The prosecution had appealed and claimed that the students’ inability to resist was not only due to their hearing impairment, but also because of their mental disabilities. The high court, however, had acquitted the accused.
Sources: Korea Times and Korean Beacon
FYI: "The 'Dogani Law,' named after the Korean title of the film, significantly increases the prison sentence (up to life imprisonment) for offenders abusing children under 13 and the disabled.Furthermore, the “Dogani Law” has also abolished a controversial clause, “inability to resist,” which had required victims, specifically those who are disabled, to prove that they were physically or mentally inept to resist properly when the crime was being committed—a loophole that gave sex offenders a way out."
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no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 04:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 04:38 am (UTC)Thank fucking god for that. Judge me all you want for wishing death on someone, but some just really deserve a slow and painful death.
It's honestly impossible to watch The Crucible without crying. If I didn't have to watch the movie in parts, I'm sure I would have been more of a mess once finished than I already was.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 02:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 04:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 05:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 06:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 05:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 05:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-07 03:46 pm (UTC)Ofc, many sex offenders end up with 10 years probation, but not before getting a few years of jail time. Sentences are more severe when the defendant denies the charges and is found guilty. That's where the case's 50 years came from. Client refused probation and went to trial and the jury found him guilty.
/works in criminal justice
no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 05:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 05:55 am (UTC)what the fuck, an ankle bracelet? are you serious? WOW WHAT A SEVERE PUNISMENT OMG MY NAME ON THE INTERNET.
burn in hell scumbag.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 06:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 06:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 06:45 am (UTC)I'm glad for the change in the old clause and for a longer sentence but I really wish life in prison was the verdict. Or capital punishment.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 06:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 06:54 am (UTC)I can't believe such a clause even existed. Who are they to determine if someone was capable enough to get out of that situation?!
no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 07:13 am (UTC)But seriously, Korea really need to get their act together though. This is high time to change the law peeps.
I'm yet to finish watching the crucible. I watched probably half of it but it was so sad and makes me depressed for days.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 07:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 09:51 am (UTC)Also, " We hope that the court’s ruling will become a precedent for future trials on sexual violence committed to minors and the disabled" rubs me the wrong way, because it should be all sexual assaults period - I've been really disgusted at the way SK treats sexual assault crimes for ages now.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 10:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 11:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 02:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 08:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 10:29 am (UTC)Glad he ACTUALLY got sentenced. Scum.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 10:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 11:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 03:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 04:29 pm (UTC)WTF, so being tied up by a man who is probably stronger than you is not an example of this! This couldn't resist standard is bullsh!t anyway but it looks like the local court didn't even follow their own laws
no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 10:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-07 01:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-07 02:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-07 03:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-07 04:22 pm (UTC)Her conviction will probably be worse than 12 years and comparing both, this case in Korea is more severe. I wonder how long this case will be open and if it takes over a year I might not even be working there anymore, but because it's such a huge deal a lot of what's going on is public. I can say that more severe cases have had 50 years in prison. We have the 2 for 1 though because our jails are so full sentences are cut in half so the person who got 50 yrs will get 25 yrs. Still 25 is still more than 12 years.
I've had to become indifferent to people when it comes to their cases because I can't be emotional or angry if they're on for murder, sexual assault, injury of a child, or even DWI with a child. I've got some pretty nasty cases on my caseload and they're all still pending and haven't been convicted of anything yet. They say you become insensitive when you do this kind of work. I do my best to just keep my personal feelings/thoughts at home, during down time, or after the client's been convicted. Someone I work with said she couldn't work with clients because she's so emotional that she'd cry with them. There's a lot of people that walk in there crying and I just hand them a tissue and keep talking.
What is disturbing though is people who are on for some crazy cases and they look happy to be there.
What's funny is people that smile for their mugshots. It can be creepy too...
no subject
Date: 2012-07-08 02:50 am (UTC)