Supreme Court Confirms 20-Year Sentence for Man in His 20s in Inha University Quasi-Rape and Fall Death Case

Law: "Using the victim as a tool for sexual gratification with ordinary motives"

A man in his 20s accused of causing the death of a classmate while attempting to sexually assault her on the Inha University campus has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

A first-year male student, Kim Mo, who is accused of sexually assaulting a female student of the same age on the Inha University campus and causing her death by falling from a building, is being transferred to the prosecution after leaving Michuhol Police Station in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, on the morning of July 22 last year.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Kim Seon-su) on the 26th upheld the 20-year prison sentence in the appeal trial of former Inha University student Kim (21), who was charged with violating the Special Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes (rape resulting in murder).

Kim was prosecuted for allegedly attempting to sexually assault a first-year female student, A, inside a college building on the Inha University campus in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, in the early hours of July 15 last year, during which she fell and died. After A fell to the first floor of the building, Kim reportedly discarded her clothes in another location and fled to his residence, but was arrested by police that afternoon.

A was left bleeding alone on the roadside in front of the building for about an hour and a half after the fall, was discovered by a passerby, and was taken to the hospital, but died three hours later.

The first trial court criticized Kim, stating, "The defendant used the victim, who was an ordinary classmate at the same school, as a tool to satisfy his sexual desire and attempted to sexually assault her while she was unconscious," and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. However, the court found it difficult to recognize intent to murder.

The second trial court also upheld the first trial's judgment, stating, "It is difficult to exclude the possibility that the defendant, unaware of the risk of falling, moved the victim's body to have sexual intercourse, resulting in her sudden fall."

The Supreme Court also agreed with the lower courts' rulings. The bench stated, "Considering the defendant's age, sexual behavior, environment, relationship with the victim, motive, means and outcome of the crime, and circumstances after the crime as recorded, the sentencing conditions support maintaining the first trial court's 20-year prison sentence. The appellate court's decision to uphold this sentence is not excessively harsh or clearly unjust."

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