Girlfriend Assault, Prostitution, and Drugs... 'Makjang Pharmacist' Receives Suspended Sentence in Appeal Trial

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] A pharmacist in his 30s who threatened his girlfriend by saying he would upload a sex video on his workplace homepage and committed special assault received a suspended sentence again in the appellate court.

On the 29th, the 1st Criminal Division of the Gwangju High Court (Presiding Judge Lee Seung-chul) dismissed the prosecutor's appeal for unfair sentencing in the appellate trial of A (38), who was detained and indicted on charges including special assault and special injury, prostitution, and violation of the Narcotics Control Act.

The court upheld the original sentence of 2 years and 6 months imprisonment with a 4-year probation.

The orders to attend 80 hours of sexual violence treatment lectures and employment restrictions for 5 years each at child and youth-related institutions and welfare facilities for the disabled were also maintained.

A was prosecuted for assaulting his girlfriend with tools and causing injury because she did not obey him.

On September 13 last year, at the pharmacy where he worked, after making his then-girlfriend buy a hot dog and she did not return immediately, he verbally abused her saying "You will get beaten to death," poured coffee on her head, hit her head with a dustpan, and threatened her with a kitchen knife.

He told his cohabiting girlfriend to come back home and then struck her dozens of times with a metal pipe and a metal phone holder, causing injuries requiring six weeks of treatment.

At around 10:30 p.m. the same day, he sent messages such as "Do you think I can't stab you?" along with photos of him holding a kitchen knife via mobile phone.

Kim also posted on the workplace homepage a post titled "A person who should not be at the hospital," threatening to release videos containing sexual scenes.

In fact, he sent scenes showing the girlfriend’s face to her workplace colleagues via Instagram.

Between April and June last year, he paid cash for prostitution three times with women he met through a chat application, and since August, he has been charged with multiple violations of work-related purposes and smoking psychotropic drugs and marijuana.

The court stated, "He assaulted the victim and distributed sex videos, causing considerable fear," and judged that "the nature of the crime is not light."

However, the court explained the sentencing reasons by comprehensively considering "that he admitted all the crimes and showed remorse, that he is a first-time offender with no prior record, and that the victim agreed and petitioned not to punish him."

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