By Kim Eun-ji
The Supreme Court on June 14 ordered a retrial of a 33-year-old homeless man, accused of murdering a 15-year-old five years ago.
When a girl was found dead with bruises at a high school in Suwon, south of Seoul, in May 2007, the police suspected a mentally challenged man, surnamed Jeong, who had previously assaulted a female.
The low court sentenced jeong to five years in jail for killing and abusing the victim, and fined another homeless man 2 million won surnamed Kang for slapping.
Jeong, however, argued he was not guilty in February 2009, when he testified as a witness at five teenage runaways’ trial related to the 2007 case. The court added five more months to Jeong’s jail term for falsely testifying.
The court of appeals, however, ruled that Jeong was not lying, considering his disability. The Supreme Court went further and backed up Jeong’s comment and said he was not guilty, given newly found evidence.
“There was no reason [for Jeong] to go to the high school an hour distance from the station, and surveillance cameras in front of the high school and at Suwon Station did not have any record of the girl or Jeong,” the court said. “Jeong’s DNA and fingerprints were not found at the sites.”
State-appointed attorney Park Jun-young, said Jeong was “horrified and anxious,” explaining the different accounts provided.
“[Jeong] was not able to correctly understand the questions due to a mental disability, and when they did not confess, the police hit [their] heads and necks with rolled-up documents,” said Park.
“But better late than never, I’m glad they decided to retry him,” Park said.