Childcare Teacher Abused 3-Year-Old Preschooler by Forcing Water Until Vomiting... Sentenced to 5 Years Imprisonment

The prosecution demanded a 5-year prison sentence for a daycare teacher accused of abuse, including forcing a 3-year-old child to drink water until vomiting. The photo is unrelated to specific expressions in the article. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoon Seul-gi] The prosecution has requested prison sentences and fines for teachers and the director of a public daycare center in Nam-gu, Ulsan. They are accused of abusing a 3-year-old child by forcing the child to drink 7 cups of water within 12 minutes.

The Ulsan District Court Criminal Division 8 (Judge Jeong Hyun-su) held a final hearing on the 12th for 10 childcare teachers including A and 11 directors including B, who were indicted for violating the Special Act on the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes.

At the hearing, the prosecution requested a 5-year prison sentence and a 10-year employment ban in related institutions for A, and a fine of 55 million KRW for director B. Among the other 9 teachers indicted excluding A, the prosecution requested prison sentences of 1 to 3 years for 6 teachers and fines of 10 million KRW each for 3 teachers.

The prosecution stated, "The defendants repeatedly abused young children in unreasonable ways hundreds of times, neglecting their duties as childcare teachers. Director B, who was responsible for supervising them, also neglected serious abuse and assaulted the mother of a victim child who requested to see CCTV footage, showing a grave nature of the crime that requires severe punishment."

A was indicted for abusing children a total of 301 times until October of the same year, including forcing a 3-year-old child to drink 7 cups of water until vomiting over about 12 minutes in September 2019, and forcing children to eat food left by other children or teachers.

The other 9 childcare teachers, excluding A, were also tried for emotional abuse such as leaving 49 children aged 0 to 3 alone in a dark classroom or making them stand facing the wall for long periods, and physical abuse such as making children punish each other, with the number of incidents per teacher ranging from 7 to over 100 during a similar period.

At the trial, a victim parent stated, "Although 1 year and 10 months have passed since the incident, my child is still afraid when seeing adult women. Children remember. Please impose severe punishment so that child facilities can be safe places."

The sentencing hearing is scheduled for September 9.

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