"They said I raped someone I had never seen before. I thought the
police, prosecutors, and judges would filter out anyone.
But I didn't know what it was and I was sentenced to six years in prison."
(Mr. Kim)
Mr. Kim, a man in his 50s, lived an ordinary life selling walnut snacks in Gokseong, South Jeolla Province.
The origin of this incident that destroyed the lives of Mr. Kim and his family in an instant dates back to 2015.
December 30th, an exceptionally cold winter night.
A woman knocks on the front door of Mr. Kim's house while drunk.
She started harassing her, saying, "You raped my nephew."
Mr. Kim immediately calls 112 for a riot caused by an unknown person, but starting from the incident that I thought would end in a 'happening', Mr. Kim is investigated as a sexual assault suspect overnight.
A sexual assaulter in the neighbor 'Innocent'... Daughter found innocent of father
The woman who came to visit Mr. Kim was Mr. Jeong, who lived on the upper floor of the villa where Mr. Kim lived.
Jeong and his nephew accuse Kim of sexual assault.
Kim claimed innocence throughout the investigation and even counter-sue Jung for false accusations, but was eventually arrested after more than a year of investigation.
Police (Jeonnam Police Agency) and prosecutors (Gwangju District Prosecutor's Office, Mokpo Branch) conclude that Kim sexually assaulted Jeong's nephew, who has intellectual disabilities, three times at home and at a motel, and that she was innocent to hide her charges.
Kim, who was handed over to trial in this way, was sentenced to six years in prison after all charges were recognized in the court (Gwangju District Court) in March 2017.
It was Mr. Kim's second daughter who went out to prove Mr. Kim's innocence, which the investigative agency and the court did not believe.
Her daughter, who lived in Gyeonggi-do at the time, led her pregnant body down to Gokseong, Jeollanam-do in a month.
She interrogates the villagers and even secures CCTV at the motel designated as the location of the incident.
After running in all directions like that, in September 2017, about 10 months after her father was arrested, she meets Jung's nephew, who said she was sexually assaulted, in Naju, South Jeolla Province.
And he hears the shocking truth from Mr. Jung's nephew, that the person who raped him was her uncle, and her aunt knew it but forced her to make a false statement to say that she was sexually assaulted by Mr. Kim to hide it.
“I was told to agree that the sentence would be commuted if the lawyers agreed until just before the appeals court sentencing. But I told my daughter not to even bring out the word ‘joint’ in the agreement. I met Mr.’s nephew. That’s how I was released.” (Mr. Kim)
In this way, Mr. Kim's daughter receives the decisive confession that "the real culprit was her uncle, and Aunt Jeong led all the manipulations" with only two weeks left before her father's appeal sentence.
It was a dramatic statement that overturned the investigation by the police and the prosecution, and the judgment of the first trial court, and the appeals court granted bail on September 29, 2017, and Mr. Kim was released after 11 months of unfair imprisonment.
The investigative agency, which had been in vain, later confirmed that the true culprit of the sexual assault was Jung's husband through a second investigation.
With the addition of false accusations against Mr. Kim, Aunt Jeong was sentenced to 7 years in prison and Jung's husband was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison.
Even before Mr. Kim's case, 'false accusations'... Police who said "I didn't know" secured perjury evidence
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Although he managed to clear his name, the lonely battle between Kim and his family has been going on for 7 years.
Her daughter, who went everywhere to clear her father's name,
even had a miscarriage, and Kim's life was shattered as she was sentenced to trial for several years due to her wrongful prison sentence.
In order to hold him accountable for his wrongful imprisonment and restore his honor, Kim will file a 200 million won damages suit against the state.
Two years before the incident, the Jung couple had a history of accusing their neighbors of sexual assault in the same way in Hampyeong, Jeollanam-do, because the police knew this but did not properly investigate.
It is called the 'Hampyeong Incident'.
Even at the time, it was Jung's husband, her uncle, who sexually assaulted his nephew, but Jung takes the blame on his neighbor.
Police said the nephew's statement at the time was not credible and decided to acquit the neighbor.
And the Jung couple were not punished for being innocent, but they came over to Gokseong and framed Mr. Kim for sexual assault in the same way.
The reliability of Mr. Jeong's statement is questionable, but the police officer in charge of Mr. Kim's case appeared as a witness in the first trial and testified that he did not know about the 'Hampyeong case' and that the direction of the investigation would have changed if he had known.
He said that he had no idea that the Jung couple had a history of being investigated for false accusations in Hampyeong. The police team leader in charge was also the police who investigated the Hampyeong case at the time.
In the end, Mr. Kim lost the first trial due to testimony that he did not know about the 'Hampyeong Incident'.
However, during the recent appeal process, evidence was secured that the police at the time were aware of the Hampyeong incident.
When I received the investigation records that the investigative authorities did not give to the end through a document submission order, the Hampyeong incident record was attached to the investigation report of Mr. I will.
In a phone call with reporters, the police officer in charge said, "I don't remember because it was a long time ago," and said he would look at the investigation record again.
“Even if it happened in the 1970s and 80s, it would be absurd, but this absurd thing happened in 2015. How terrible it
is.
Anyone can go through this and it's so scary that we live in a world like this."
(Attorney Jeong-gyu Choi, attorney for Mr. Kim)
Lost the first trial of the damages lawsuit against the state… Second trial next week
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The investigative agency's investigation process, which turned an innocent person into a sexual assaulter overnight, was too lax.
Even though there was a victim's statement that "Mr. Kim put him in a vehicle and dragged him to a motel, raped him and dropped him off in front of a mart," the police did not check the basic black box of Mr. Kim's vehicle, the motel, and the mart CCTV.
Even though there was no history of motel payments in Kim's card usage list, the case was handed over to the prosecution, saying that Kim should be prosecuted.
Even when conducting a written investigation that showed several portraits and identified the culprit, his aunt, Mr. Jeong, stood by his nephew.
In the end, the basis for the police's judgment was the statement of Mr. Jung's nephew and the result of the lie detector that had no evidence at trial.
There were so many loopholes, but the first trial court (Seoul Central District Court) in the national damages lawsuit did not raise Mr. Kim's hand.
"There were some deficiencies in the investigation process, but it is not enough to say that the investigative agency violated the laws, regulations, or culinary limitations and conducted an investigation that lacked objective legitimacy."
According to Supreme Court precedents, the state sets the requirements for compensation for damages △when the judgment of an investigative agency reached a point where its rationality cannot be affirmed in light of the rules of experience or logic △public officials violated the legal or culinary limitations to establish objective legitimacy. It is limited to cases where it is clearly proven that the investigation was conducted with an insufficient investigative method.
Her daughter has managed to prove her innocence, but now she has to prove the authorities wrong.
“It seems like I sued even the people who accused me of being innocent and only went through a trial for 7 years. So far, the economic damage is indescribable. But rather than economic damage, I want to restore my honor by receiving compensation from the state. Who will believe me?" (Mr. Kim)
“It seemed like the police, prosecutors, and judges would filter out anyone,” said Mr. Kim.
Even after being accused of sexually assaulting a stranger, Mr. Kim was a Korean citizen who believed that his innocence would soon be revealed.
However, no one prevented Mr. Kim from being prosecuted, and he was sentenced to 6 years in prison, disregarding the law of 'in the interest of the accused when in doubt'.
He believed that he would be able to hold him responsible for the poor investigation and trial, but even that was thwarted.
Mr. Kim is in the process of an appeal against a state agency with evidence that he could not secure in the first trial.
The second trial will be held on the 13th at the Seoul Central District Court.
I hope you don't betray Kim's belief that "I thought someone would filter it out" this time.