Foreign Luxury Cars and Watches as 'Symbols of Loyalty'... A Man in His 50s Exploiting Disabled People

Threatened and assaulted like a slave for 6 years
Gwangju District Court sentences to 7 years in prison

A man in his 50s who abused and threatened a man with intellectual disabilities like a slave for six years was sentenced to seven years in prison.

According to News1 on the 16th, on the 14th, the 11th Criminal Division of the Gwangju District Court (Presiding Judge Go Sang-young) sentenced Mr. A (51), who was tried on charges including injury, special assault, assault, and violation of the Specialized Credit Finance Business Act, to seven years in prison. In addition, he was ordered to complete 40 hours of sexual violence treatment programs and to register his personal information for 15 years.

Mr. A met Mr. B, who has an intellectual disability, in November 2015. Mr. A intentionally approached Mr. B, whom he met through an acquaintance, after realizing that Mr. B had a personality that made it difficult to refuse others' requests. Mr. A told Mr. B, who was running a business at the time, "I will close the store I run and help with your restaurant work."

When Mr. B accepted this, Mr. A began to extend his claws in earnest. Mr. A said, "I have lived in an organization. Handling someone like you is nothing. I can even have someone kidnap your children," and demanded 2.5 million won monthly without doing any work.

Under threat, Mr. B handed over a total of 67.78 million won to Mr. A 317 times from December 2015 to June 2020. Mr. A, emphasizing that he was a credit delinquent, issued credit cards in Mr. B's name and used 22.79 million won by purchasing goods or taking cash advances 392 times.

He also forced Mr. B to purchase a used foreign car worth tens of millions of won and took it away, and made Mr. B buy luxury watches worth millions of won, which he then took as a "token of loyalty."

Eventually, Mr. B closed his store due to Mr. A's tyranny and worked at a hotel, as a substitute driver, and as a taxi driver. However, Mr. A continued to take most of Mr. B's wages, with the total amount taken reaching 150 million won. Not only did Mr. A extort money, but he also committed assaults; Mr. B recalled and testified to 26 assaults from April 2017 to September 2021. In September 2021, Mr. A assaulted Mr. B about 40 times over approximately nine days with various objects and fists and even sprayed mosquito repellent into Mr. B's mouth.

Fearing retaliation, Mr. B endured the crimes until Mr. A finally attempted to sexually assault him, prompting Mr. B to seek help from those around him after six years, which allowed him to escape from Mr. A.

In court, Mr. A denied all charges, explaining that "he received the vehicle because he and Mr. B worked as a two-person team for substitute driving" and that "the luxury watch was a birthday gift," but the court did not accept these explanations.

Based on CCTV footage, audio recordings, and testimonies from people around them, the court stated, "Although the victim shows a mild level of intellectual disability, his ability to engage in abstract or logical thinking is inadequate, and he appeared to be completely psychologically dependent on the defendant's prolonged assault and threats. The defendant's assaults had become so routine that the victim could not resist at all, even in the face of very serious violence. There were even instances where the victim's son witnessed the assaults."

The court continued, "The defendant's guilt is very serious as he committed sexual assault to psychologically dominate the victim. Considering that the victim endured long-term economic hardship due to the crimes, incurred significant debts, suffered severe damage to his personality and dignity, wishes for severe punishment, and that the defendant has not shown remorse but only excuses, it is appropriate to impose a long-term prison sentence," explaining the reasons for sentencing.

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