Victim's Brother in 'Middle School Girls Group Sexual Assault Case' Claims Police Deliberately Deleted CCTV Footage

[Asia Economy Reporter Shinwon Yoon] Regarding the group sexual assault case involving middle school students that occurred in Incheon, the victim's side has filed a complaint suspecting that the police deliberately deleted the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage capturing the crime scene.

On the 21st, Mr. A, the older brother of the victimized middle school student, submitted a seven-page complaint letter to the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency. The complaint included the claim that "the perpetrator's side colluded with the investigating officer to delete part of the only CCTV footage of the crime scene."

Mr. A urged, "I hope the phone used to record the CCTV footage at the time of securing it by the investigator will undergo digital forensic analysis."

The missing CCTV footage reportedly shows two middle school students, including the suspect B (15), dragging the intoxicated and unconscious victim from the crime scene apartment on December 23 of last year. The police visited the apartment management office three days after the crime, on the 26th, to view and record the CCTV footage, but the relevant scenes were missing, according to the claim.

In response, Mr. A argued, "It is suspicious that only the footage from just before to just after the suspects' special rape (group sexual assault) is missing, as confirmed by the prosecution's review of the CCTV footage."

He also explained, "It is hard to trust the police explanation that they only realized the footage was missing during the preparation of the investigation report and tried to re-record it later," adding, "The investigating officer claimed to have contacted the apartment management office on January 5 this year after realizing the footage was missing, but the management office denied ever receiving such contact."

The head of the investigating team, while explaining the issue of the missing CCTV footage, stated, "The perpetrators' side reviewed all the footage and admitted the content," implying that the absence of the footage does not hinder proving the suspects' guilt. However, Mr. A believes this is also untrue.

He said, "After checking with the apartment manager, the situation room chief, and the viewing log, it was confirmed that one of the perpetrators did not view the CCTV footage at the apartment management office."

To raise awareness of these issues, Mr. A claimed he requested meetings with the police station chief overseeing the investigating team for two consecutive days starting from the 8th of this month but was refused.

On the 14th, he met with the head of the Women and Youth Division of the police station, who is the superior of the investigating team, but the division chief reportedly scolded the victim's side in a high-handed manner, saying, "What are you doing recording the conversation in front of a police officer? I don't think that's something you should do to a police officer."

Earlier, two middle school students, including B, were arrested on charges of repeatedly sexually assaulting and injuring Ms. C, a fellow middle school student, after giving her alcohol in the early morning of December 23 at an apartment gym in Incheon. It is reported that Ms. C was targeted because she was friends with a junior student who was bullied by A and others.

Following suspicions of a botched investigation related to the case, the police have launched an internal inspection and a comprehensive review of sexual violence cases at 10 police stations in the Incheon area.

The victim's side previously claimed that the police's refusal to accept requests for personal protection led to secondary harm by encountering the perpetrators.

Additionally, after the case was publicized through the Blue House's national petition board and sparked public outrage through media coverage, the victim's side criticized the police for delayed investigation, noting that the arrest warrants for the perpetrators were only requested three months after the incident occurred.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.