Despite the worker saying, “Boss, it hurts”... Business owner sentenced to 3 years in prison for firing an air gun into the worker’s anus and rupturing his rectum

[Financial News] A company owner in his 60s was sentenced to prison in the first trial for firing an industrial air gun into the anus of a Thai national worker, causing serious injuries including a rectal perforation.
According to legal sources on the 15th, Judge Gu Na-young of the Suwon District Court’s 9th single-judge criminal panel sentenced A, the owner of a metal-cleaning company in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, to three years in prison. A had been indicted while in custody on charges including special bodily injury and violations of the Labor Standards Act. The court dismissed the case against B, A’s wife and a company director, who was tried alongside A on a charge of intimidation.
Prosecutors had previously sought seven years in prison for A, saying A had tried to cover up the crime by denying intent and urging the victim to return to their home country, and one year for B.
A is accused of pressing an industrial air gun against the anal area of C, a Thai man in his 40s who worked there, and then releasing high-pressure air on February 20. C suffered serious injuries, including a traumatic rectal perforation, and was treated at a hospital.
Investigators found that A and his wife took C to a hospital on the day of the incident but called 119 when he could not receive medical attention. They told police and fire authorities that C had been injured while fooling around with an air gun with acquaintances, and tried to pass it off as a simple accident.
A was reported to have argued during the trial, “I admit that I pressed the air gun’s handle and discharged it about three times as a prank, but I did not insert the nozzle into the victim’s anus.”
The court rejected A’s argument. Judge Gu said, “The victim gave specific testimony that the air gun was not removed until the victim said, ‘Boss, it hurts. Stop.’” The judge found that “given the 10 cm perforation inside the victim’s rectum, it appears the air was released while the air gun was inserted into the anus.”
The judge added, “At the hospital, the defendant said the victim had been injured while fooling around with an air gun with a foreign friend, but changed the account to investigators, saying it had happened because of the defendant’s own mistake.” The judge noted, “It is difficult to believe the defendant’s statements.”
The judge explained the sentence, saying, “Joking and assault must be distinguished. Even while watching the victim suffer, the defendant did not seem surprised or flustered and only laughed, appearing to have harassed the victim under the guise of a joke.” The judge added, “The defendant appears to have denied the crime right up to the trial and to show no genuine remorse.”
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