The Perpetrator of the Sexual Assault Case from 15 Years Ago Revealed by DNA Investigation

Attempted Sexual Assault in 2008 Leads to Escape
Case Classified as Unsolved for 1 Year Due to Lack of Evidence
Crime Revealed 14 Years Later Through DNA Analysis

A man in his 40s who attempted to sexually assault a woman while following her home was caught after 15 years and sentenced to prison.

A man in his 40s who attempted to sexually assault a woman walking home was caught and sentenced to prison after being tried for another case 15 years later.
[Photo by Asia Economy DB]

The Ulsan District Court Criminal Division 11 (Chief Judge Lee Daero) announced on the 5th that it sentenced Mr. A, a man in his 40s who was tried for violating the Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes and Protection of Victims, to 3 years and 4 months in prison.

In June 2008, in the early morning in a residential area of Ulsan, Mr. A followed Ms. B, who had just gotten out of a taxi, and attempted to sexually assault her. However, Ms. B persuaded Mr. A to smoke a cigarette, and taking advantage of his momentary distraction, she escaped, resulting in an attempted assault.

The police collected about 10 pieces of evidence including Mr. A’s hair and pubic hair found at the scene during the investigation the next day and requested DNA analysis from the National Forensic Service. However, since Mr. A’s genetic information was not in the database at that time, the perpetrator could not be identified, and no additional evidence emerged for about a year. Consequently, the case was classified as unsolved and closed.

Fourteen years later, in December 2022, Mr. A was investigated for special injury after injuring karaoke bar owner Mr. C by hitting him with a fire extinguisher. Since special injury crimes require DNA collection from suspects, a DNA test was conducted, revealing that Mr. A was the true culprit of the June 2008 sexual assault case, leading to his prosecution 15 years after the crime. Although the victim had already passed away, the police uncovered the crime through investigations of people around the victim.

The prosecution investigated Mr. A as a suspect in the sexual assault case and brought him to trial again. During the trial, Mr. A claimed that Ms. B had fabricated the assault to extort a settlement, but the court did not accept this argument.

The court stated, "Mr. A followed Ms. B, whom he did not know, to sexually assault her, shows no remorse, and makes claims that are difficult to accept logically," and sentenced Mr. A to prison.

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