Prosecutors indict grandmother for tying and neglecting 11-year-old child at church to death

Prosecution: “To prevent them from going outside, they tied up their beds and left them alone, excluding meals and bathrooms, for three days.”

(Cheonan = Yonhap News) Reporter Byun Seon-jin = A maternal grandmother accused of tying up and abusing an 11-year-old child to death at a church in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province was detained and handed over to trial.

The Cheonan branch of the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office announced on the 9th that it had indicted B (50s), the maternal grandmother of A (11), who died, on charges of child abuse and death.

Mr. B is accused of causing the death of A by tying him up and neglecting him in relation to the incident on the 5th of last month where A was taken to the hospital with a high fever of 41.5 degrees and symptoms of decreased consciousness and died about 3 hours later.

Previously, the prosecution indicted church pastor C (60s) on the 1st on the same charge.

The prosecution determined that the time that Mr. A was tied to the bed was 'about 48 hours over three days', which was longer than the '30 hours' estimated by the police.

It was found that they bound Person A in this way to prevent him from leaving the church.

Additionally, it was found that Person A was left chained to the bed at all times, except when eating or using the bathroom.

The prosecution detected additional abuse between late July and early August, before Mr. A died, and additionally charged Mr. B with child abuse.

A prosecution official said, "After being transferred to the police, we have identified the true nature of the crime through search and seizure of the person's residence, integrated psychological analysis, and request for forensic advice. We are holding a child abuse case management meeting to discuss measures to prevent recurrence and improve the system."

Meanwhile, the police investigating the case are continuing to investigate additional suspects, including those who lived at the scene of the incident or at the church, in addition to the pastor and maternal grandmother who were arrested and indicted, to determine whether they committed female crimes or participated in the crime.

The police explained that there were no additional children other than Person A, who died.

A police official said, “In addition to the arrested suspects, we are also investigating additional people booked,” and added, “We are examining the possibility of legal punishment from various angles regarding the circumstances of past abuse.”