By Kim Bo-eun
The Supreme Court ordered a retrial Thursday of three men convicted of raping a teacher on a remote southwestern island last year.
Rulings by lower courts stated that the assailants had not colluded in the sexual assault. The Gwangju High Court handed them sentences of seven to 10 years, citing settlements with the victim.
The Supreme Court sent the case back to the Gwangju High Court.
“The defendants of this case deny collusion, but evidence shows that the allegations of collusion, which the first and second trials did not recognize, can be acknowledged,” the court said.
The three _ surnamed Kim, Lee and Park _ were indicted on charges of raping an elementary school teacher who taught their children on the island of Shinan in South Jeolla Province in May last year
The men forced the teacher to drink alcohol, took her to her home and attempted to rape her. They failed in their first attempt due to resistance from the victim but raped her after she fell asleep. Lee filmed the scene.
Kim was tried for an additional offense of breaking into a studio apartment in Daejeon and raping a woman in 2007.
Prosecutors, citing that the men had committed the offense by taking advantage of their status as parents of students, sought a 25-year sentence for Kim, 22 years for Lee and 17 years for Park.
The point of contention was whether the defendants colluded during their first attempt to rape the victim. If collusion had been recognized, the defendants would have been subject to collective responsibility for the offense of attempted rape, but if not they would have only been subject to punishment for individual rape attempts.
The first trial recognized collusion in the defendants’ second rape attempt, but did not acknowledge collusion for their first attempt, and handed a sentence of 18, 13 and 12 years to Kim, Lee and Park respectively.
An appeals court upheld the original verdict but reduced the sentences to 10, eight and seven years, citing the settlements.