“Nine years on the run after a steel-pipe rampage...” Caught after wife’s report, with six months left on the statute of limitations

[Financial News] A wanted person in their 30s who wielded a steel pipe at a bar nine years ago and disappeared just before a court hearing on a detention warrant was caught by police with just six months left before the statute of limitations expired. The long flight from justice came to an unexpected end after A’s wife reported domestic violence.
The Gwangju Seobu Police Station said on the 12th that it had booked and was investigating A, a person in their 30s who had been wanted for nearly nine years under an arrest warrant on suspicion of special bodily injury.
A is suspected of causing a disturbance while assaulting a girlfriend with their shirt off at a bar in Chipyeong-dong, Seo-gu, Gwangju, at around 3 a.m. on March 23, 2017, then punching an employee who tried to intervene and injuring them with a steel pipe. A was arrested at the scene, but after an initial police interview, failed to appear for the court’s pre-arrest hearing on whether to issue a detention warrant and fled. An arrest warrant was subsequently issued, but A’s whereabouts could not be determined, and A remained on the wanted list for years.
A’s flight came to an end at around 2:20 p.m. that day in the Nam-gu area of Gwangju, about six months before the 10-year statute of limitations for the special bodily injury offense was due to expire. Police responding to a 112 call from A’s wife, who reported that she had suffered domestic violence, checked A’s identity at the scene. When they discovered that A was wanted, they arrested A immediately.
The statute of limitations for the special bodily injury charge against A runs until March next year, so A can still be punished for it. However, the obstruction-of-business charge brought at the time is no longer punishable because its seven-year statute of limitations has already expired. Police plan to question A closely about the details of the incident and the nine years spent on the run, then apply for a detention warrant again.

[email protected] Park Ji-hyun Reporter