Sejong police refer facility worker to prosecutors in custody over abuse of resident
In short
Sejong police said on the 22nd they have referred a facility employee in their 30s, identified as A, to prosecutors in custody over the abuse of a resident with an intellectual disability in their 40s. The resident was found with six broken ribs and bruising last January. An earlier investigation was closed for insufficient evidence before police reopened the case in May.
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Sejong Provincial Police Agency said on the 22nd that it had referred a facility employee, identified as A and in their 30s, to prosecutors in custody. A is suspected of abusing B, a resident in their 40s with an intellectual disability, at a residential facility for disabled people in Sejong. Yonhap and Seoul Shinmun reported a charge under the Welfare of Disabled Persons Act. Newsis reported that A is also suspected of injury. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
B was found at the facility in January last year with bruises on several parts of the body. B was diagnosed with six fractured ribs and contusions that required 12 weeks of treatment. Newsis reported that A is suspected of hitting B and causing the injuries. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
The Sejong disability rights advocacy agency treated the case as abuse. According to Yonhap and Seoul Shinmun, it asked Sejong Bukbu police station to investigate in February of that year. Police closed the case before charges around June, after about four months, citing insufficient evidence. Yonhap and Seoul Shinmun reported that B's family filed an objection and disability groups protested; Newsis mentioned only the family's objection. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
Sejong Provincial Police Agency began a re-investigation in May, according to Yonhap and Newsis. Yonhap and Seoul Shinmun reported that police acknowledged shortcomings in the first investigation, including questioning B, who has a severe intellectual disability and difficulty communicating, without a statement assistant present. In the re-investigation, they reported, police added a statement assistant and a trusted person to the process. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
A police official told Yonhap the case was re-examined from the beginning and that suspicion of A rested on statements from other disabled users and A's working hours. Newsis reported that a disabled resident, C, who lived with B, kept naming A as the abuser, and quoted a police official as saying the re-investigation identified A and found grounds for suspicion. A detention warrant was issued on the 7th, and A was sent to prosecutors in custody. [ 1 , 3 ]
Why it matters
The case moved from a closure for insufficient evidence to a custody referral after objections from the victim's family and protests from disability groups. Police acknowledged shortcomings in the first investigation, which the documents describe as the lack of a statement assistant for the victim.
Key facts
- Sejong Provincial Police Agency said on the 22nd that it had referred an employee of a disability residential facility in Sejong, identified as A and in their 30s, to prosecutors in custody. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- A is suspected of abusing B, a resident in their 40s with an intellectual disability, in violation of the Welfare of Disabled Persons Act; Newsis also reported a suspected injury charge. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- B was found at the facility in January last year with bruises on several parts of the body and was diagnosed with six fractured ribs and contusions requiring 12 weeks of treatment. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- The Sejong disability rights advocacy agency treated the case as abuse and asked Sejong Bukbu police station to investigate; the case was closed before charges for insufficient evidence after about four months. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- After objections from B's family, Sejong Provincial Police Agency began a re-investigation in May. [ 1 , 3 ]
- A detention warrant for A was issued on the 7th, according to a police official. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- Sejong police referred A, a facility employee in their 30s, to prosecutors in custody over alleged abuse of B, a resident in their 40s with an intellectual disability. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- B was found with bruises and six fractured ribs, with diagnosed treatment of 12 weeks, in January last year. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- The first investigation was closed before charges for insufficient evidence, and the case was reopened after B's family objected. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- A detention warrant for A was issued on the 7th. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
Still unclear
- What evidence led police to name A as the suspect. Yonhap quoted a police official citing other disabled users' statements and A's working hours, while Newsis reported that a disabled resident, C, who lived with B, kept naming A as the abuser; Newsis attributed this to what is known, not to a police statement.
- Whether the injury charge applies in addition to the Welfare of Disabled Persons Act charge. Only Newsis mentions a suspected injury charge; Yonhap and Seoul Shinmun name only the Welfare of Disabled Persons Act.
- A's response to the allegations. None of the documents give a statement from A or A's representatives.