Teacher Who Threw Cigarette Butt Causing 'Seoul Eunmyeong Elementary School Fire' Sentenced to Imprisonment... Court Imprisons

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] A teacher who caused a large fire by discarding a cigarette butt inside Eunmyeong Elementary School in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, was sentenced to imprisonment without labor in the first trial.

According to the legal community on the 9th, Judge Jin Jae-kyung of the Criminal Division 3 at the Seoul Western District Court sentenced former Eunmyeong Elementary School teacher A, who was tried for negligent arson, to 10 months of imprisonment without labor yesterday.

On June 26, 2019, around 4 p.m., A smoked a cigarette at the garbage separation area next to the annex of Eunmyeong Elementary School in Seoul and discarded the cigarette butt. The fire that started from this cigarette butt spread to the outer wall of the annex, burning the building and parked vehicles, causing property damage worth approximately 2.7 billion KRW. A total of 158 students and teachers evacuated, and two teachers who inhaled smoke were transported to the hospital.

A admitted to being at the scene where the fire started but denied the charge, claiming that he usually smoked electronic cigarettes. The court found circumstances indicating that A smoked a regular cigarette at the fire scene and determined that the fire was caused by the cigarette butt discarded by A, recognizing all charges as guilty.

The court stated, "Based on the defendant's health checkup questionnaire and card usage details, it is acknowledged that he usually smoked regular cigarettes," and judged, "The defendant appears to have hurriedly smoked a cigarette during a short visit to the school before moving to another location after a company dinner on the day of the incident."

Furthermore, "The defendant does not admit his fault and has made no effort to restore the damage," the court sentenced A to 10 months of imprisonment without labor and ordered his detention in court, citing concerns of evidence tampering and flight risk.

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