30s Man Sentenced to Prison for Raping Sleeping Future Sister-in-Law and Committing 'Secondary Harm'...

A man in his 30s who sexually assaulted his sleeping fianc?e’s younger sister was sentenced to prison and detained in court during the appeal trial.

According to the legal community on the 11th, the Criminal Division 1 of the Chuncheon Branch of the Seoul High Court sentenced A (30) to three years in prison and ordered him to complete 40 hours of a sexual violence treatment program, detaining him in court. A was charged with rape and quasi-forcible molestation under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes due to a familial relationship. In the first trial, A was sentenced to seven years in prison but was not detained in court as there was no concern of evidence tampering or flight risk, as he had been tried without detention.

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A was prosecuted for forcibly molesting his fianc?e’s younger sister, who had fallen asleep after drinking alcohol in 2020, and raping her after she woke up. In the first trial, A admitted only to the quasi-forcible molestation and denied the rape charge. However, the court found him guilty based on the victim’s consistent and detailed testimony from the investigation stage to the courtroom, as well as conversations between the victim and the defendant immediately after the incident.

The first trial stated, “Considering the relationship between the victim and the defendant, the circumstances and method of the crime, the nature of the offense is very serious, and the victim appears to have suffered considerable sexual shame and pain. Moreover, attempts to reach a settlement resulted in pressure being applied to the victim to retract her statement by using the victim’s family, causing secondary harm.”

Upon A’s appeal, the second trial court reexamined the case and ruled that there was no familial relationship between the defendant and the victim. The appellate court found it difficult to objectively recognize the existence of a marital life under civil law based on the dating process between the defendant and the victim’s older sister and their living arrangements. For this reason, the court imposed a lighter sentence of three years in prison compared to the first trial. Sexual assault within a familial relationship is subject to the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes, which doubles the sentence to seven years or more.

The appellate court explained, “Despite the victim’s significant mental distress and sexual discomfort, the defendant continued to deny the rape, and the victim had to endure the pain of testifying in the original trial court. There was also an aspect of causing further harm in the process of attempting a settlement.” The court added, “This is clearly a case where the victim suffered not only from the crime itself for a long time but also from various forms of ‘secondary harm’ during the trial. Even if the defendant later reached a settlement with the victim and the victim expressed a desire not to prosecute, considering the sincerity of these factors, a prison sentence is unavoidable.” A pleaded, “Please give me just one chance,” but the court detained him on the spot.

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