High School Girl Paralyzed in Accident Caused by 'Kalchigi Driver', Suspended Prison Sentence Upheld in Appeal

Victims' Families Outraged "Only the Sufferers Are Pitied"
"We Petitioned for Severe Punishment and Got 200,000 Signatures"

A video capturing a situation where a vehicle cuts in and collides with a Jinju city bus. Photo by Han Moon-cheol TV on YouTube.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-ju] A driver who suddenly cut in front of a city bus while driving, causing a high school girl on the bus to be diagnosed with quadriplegia, was sentenced to imprisonment without labor in the appellate court.

On the 29th, the Criminal Division 3 of Changwon District Court (Presiding Judges Jang Jae-yong, Yoon Sung-yeol, Kim Ki-poong) announced that it sentenced driver A (59), who was prosecuted for violating the Special Act on the Treatment of Traffic Accidents, to one year of imprisonment without labor, the same as the original trial. Imprisonment without labor means being confined in a correctional facility without forced labor.

Earlier, on December 16, 2019, A was driving a Rexton SUV on a road in Jinju City and suddenly cut in front of a city bus.

This caused a collision accident, and as a result, a high school senior girl who was about to sit in the back seat was thrown forward and hit the coin box, suffering serious injuries including quadriplegia.

In the first trial, the prosecution demanded a four-year prison sentence for A, but the court considered factors such as no prior criminal record and insurance subscription, and imposed imprisonment without labor.

The court stated the sentencing reasons, saying, "Due to this accident, the victim became quadriplegic and is unable to perform daily activities without others' help, and the family strongly petitions for severe punishment. However, considering that this is the first offense and insurance money will be paid to the family, the first trial seems to have set the sentence within a reasonable range."

When the verdict did not change in the appellate court, the victim's family in the gallery could not hide their feelings of injustice and frustration.

The victim's father said, "The perpetrator will serve one year and then enjoy life, but we have to take care of our child until we die," expressing his anger, "It seems that our country's law only makes the victims feel sorry."

The victim's older sister lamented, "After the first trial verdict, I posted on the Blue House's national petition board asking for severe punishment and received support from over 200,000 people, but nothing has changed. The verdict is very different from the public's sense of justice, and it is frustrating."

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