“Wife in the morning, husband in the evening” ... Man sentenced to prison for assaulting a district council candidate and his wife [True Crime]

[Financial News]“I beat your wife too this morning.”Outside a convenience store in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of April 28, a man approached a prospective district council candidate who was campaigning by handing out business cards to residents and said this. The man was A, who had assaulted the candidate’s wife just 11 hours earlier. A immediately grabbed the candidate by the collar and punched him in the face about four times.
A’s rampage did not end there. After damaging a taxi on a nearby road, he continued causing a disturbance at the police station, taking off his clothes and breaking property even after being arrested in the act.
The incident began around 7:30 a.m. on April 28, in front of a bus stop in Seongdong-gu, Seoul.
At the time, the wife of a prospective district council candidate was campaigning ahead of the June 3 local elections, greeting residents. Her husband was planning to run as a district council candidate in the constituency covering Majang, Sageun, Songjeong and Yongdap-dong in Seongdong-gu.
A, who was talking with the wife, became unhappy when she said, in effect, that her husband had lived in the area for 20 years or that candidates finishing as low as third place could be elected in the district council race. A suddenly grabbed her by the hair and shoved her down onto a bus-stop bench.
Later that day, at around 6:45 p.m., A spotted the candidate campaigning outside a convenience store in Seongdong-gu and attacked him again. After mentioning that he had assaulted the candidate’s wife that morning, A grabbed him by the collar and punched him in the face about four times.
Immediately after assaulting the candidate, A went on another rampage on a nearby road. At around 6:46 p.m., he ran in front of a taxi passing along the road and blocked its way. When the driver tried to move, A hurled his mobile phone at the vehicle’s trunk.
The impact knocked letters off the logo on the rear of the taxi and dented part of the trunk. The repair bill came to about 560,000 won.
A was arrested in the act at around 6:55 p.m., but continued causing a disturbance at the police station.
After being taken to the police station’s integrated investigation duty room, A threw items including his mobile phone and wallet, took off all his clothes and shouted obscenities. He also tore three seat cushions from the waiting-room chairs by hand and threw them toward the interrogation area.
His rampage continued even after he was placed in the lockup. A pulled off and broke the safety grab bar beside the sink in the holding room, then tore a mattress the following dawn. He went on to throw his water-soaked trousers at a CCTV camera, knocking off its cover as well.
Investigators found that A had previously been sentenced to one year and six months in prison for offenses including aggravated property damage and was released on January 23. He committed another crime just over three months after completing his sentence.
According to legal sources on the 23rd, the criminal division of the Seoul Eastern District Court, presided over by Judge Go Chung-jeong, sentenced A, who had been indicted on charges including violating the Public Official Election Act, property damage and damaging public property, to one year in prison for violating the election law and one year for the other offenses. The ruling was handed down on the 2nd.
During the trial, whether A’s history of mental illness meant he had diminished mental capacity was also at issue. He had previously received inpatient treatment for conditions including bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia.
However, the court declined to reduce his sentence on the grounds of diminished mental capacity, noting that A gave detailed statements to police about the circumstances, time and place of the crimes, and that there was no indication his mental illness had manifested itself when he committed them.
The court pointed out that “assaulting voters who are campaigning or people seeking to become candidates is a crime that goes beyond infringing on individual legal interests and violates the significant social legal interest of electoral freedom, which underpins democratic politics.”
The court took into account, among other things, that A admitted to the crimes and reached a settlement with the taxi driver. It also found that he did not appear to have had a political intention or purpose to influence the election.
[email protected] Lee Dong-hyuk Reporter