'Sexual assault delusion' murderer does not appear at trial due to illness... Refusal to meet

(Chuncheon = Yonhap News) Reporter Park Young-seo = A man in his 20s who was sentenced to 30 years in prison in the first trial for killing an innocent victim under the delusion that his family was the victim of sexual violence did not appear at the appeal trial due to illness.

Defendant A (27), who was indicted on charges of murder, special home invasion, special injury, and special confinement, did not appear at the second trial held on the 11th at the Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul High Court's Chuncheon Trial Division (Chief Judge Eun-hye Lee).

According to the court, Mr. A refused to attend due to illness, and did not respond even though prison guards repeatedly persuaded him to attend.

The lawyer also said that he had requested to meet with Mr. A, but he continued to be refused.

In the end, due to Mr. A's non-attendance, the witness interrogation of the victim's family, which was scheduled to be held that day, was postponed to the 9th of next month.

The bereaved family expressed their intention to plead for severe punishment for Mr. A, saying, “There is something I want to tell in court.”

Mr. A was handed over to trial on charges of murdering Mr. B (45) at an apartment in Taejang-dong, Wonju at around 6:39 pm on January 16th.

Mr. A went to Mr. B's house when Mr. B had not returned home, beat and threatened his mother, Mr. C (71), and imprisoned him. Then, when Mr. B returned home, he brandished a weapon that was inside the house and committed murder.

As a result of the investigation, Mr. A was sentenced to 5 years in prison for a sex crime and while serving prison time, he fell under the delusion that Mr. B had sexually assaulted Mr. A's family and decided to kill Mr. B after his release.

Mr. A, who used the criminal investigation office to find out the victim's house, broke into the victim's house by pretending to be a delivery man delivering fruit.

Mr. A, who assaulted Mr. C, causing approximately 5 weeks of injuries and imprisoned him for about 2 hours, waited for Mr. B to arrive before committing the crime.

Even though Mr. A heard from his mother and younger brother that 'there was no evidence of sexual assault', he fell into the delusion that Mr. B had sexually assaulted them about 20 years ago, and sued Mr. B for a sexual crime and reported it to the media.

The first trial sentenced the victim to 30 years in prison and ordered him to wear an electronic location tracking device (electronic anklet) for 20 years, saying, "The defendant claims that the victim was at fault, but despite the lack of data to support this claim, he continued to repeat the claim, defaming the deceased's reputation and causing serious mental damage to the bereaved family."