Saekdongwon Facility Head Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison at First Trial for Sexually Abusing Residents with Disabilities: “Testimony Found Credible”

[Financial News] The head of Saekdongwon, a residential facility for people with severe disabilities in Incheon, was sentenced to 15 years in prison at his first trial for allegedly sexually abusing female residents. The ruling came after an unusual on-site inspection in June, with most of the victims’ testimony accepted by the court.
The Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Settlement Division 29, presided over by Judge Eom Ki-pyo, sentenced Kim on the 2nd to 15 years in prison for violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes and the Welfare of Persons with Disabilities Act. The court also barred him from employment at child- and youth-related institutions for 10 years and ordered three years of probation beginning on the day his sentence ends. However, it rejected the prosecution’s request for an electronic monitoring order.
Last month, prosecutors sought a 20-year prison sentence, completion of a sexual violence treatment program, disclosure and notification of his personal information, a 10-year employment ban, 20 years of electronic location-tracking device use, and five years of probation.
The court accepted all of the facts alleged in the indictment but found Kim not guilty of some charges involving one victim. As a result, it imposed a lighter sentence than the punishment sought by prosecutors. Regarding the charge of raping a person with a disability under protection, the court found Kim not guilty, saying it was difficult to conclude that the victim had been unable to resist or that the defendant had used deception or force.
However, the court found Kim guilty of all the physical and sexual abuse charges involving the other victims. According to the prosecution’s investigation, Kim sexually assaulted three people with disabilities at multiple locations within Saekdongwon from 2012 through last year. He was also charged with physically abusing one victim in 2021 by striking the person’s palm 34 times with a drumstick.
The defense team argued that committing the crimes would have been difficult given the facility’s CCTV system, layout, and duty roster. It also challenged the credibility of the victims’ testimony on the grounds of their disabilities.
The court explained, “The victims maintained the overall framework of their statements even under the stressful circumstances of cross-examination in the courtroom,” adding, “Even when assessed from the perspective of a judge, we could not find any issue with the credibility of their testimony.”
The court further emphasized, “Multiple petitions seeking severe punishment were submitted because this occurred as the Act on Supporting Independent Living in the Community and Housing Transition for Persons with Disabilities is about to take effect,” adding, “Crimes against socially vulnerable people with disabilities can occur in facilities of any size, whether small or large. We believe efforts to prevent recurrence are necessary.”
Go Eun-young, an attorney at Barun Law LLC who represented one of the victims, said, “The Saekdongwon case is not an individual sex crime case but a crime concealed in an organized and structural manner,” adding, “Through efforts including obtaining gynecological care, specialized psychiatric assessments, and psychological testing in advance to secure objective evidence supporting the victim’s testimony, both the sexual violence and injury charges were ultimately found guilty.”
[email protected] Chang-hoon Lee Reporter