Public rage growing over indiscriminate assault murder

A petition calling for strong punishment for the defendant in a brutal murder case has garnered over 300,000 supports as of Saturday. Captured from Cheong Wa Dae website

By Jung Da-min

Public rage is growing over the case of a man in his 20s who brutally assaulted and killed a woman in her 50s.

A petition on the Cheong Wa Dae website calling for strong punishment of the man surpassed 300,000 as of Saturday, three days after it was posted. The presidential office is expected to respond to the petition, as it has passed the 200,000 threshold at which this is mandatory.

The 20-year old defendant, surnamed Park, assaulted the victim at about 2:36 a.m. Oct. 4 ― repeatedly beating her about the head and face ― on the side of a road near a marina in Gohyeon-dong, Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province. The assault by the 180-centimeter tall man on the 130-centimeter tall women lasted for more than 30 minutes.

The victim was 58, had no family, and was making a living by collecting waste cardboard and paper.

CCTV Video: https://bit.ly/2BEs466

(from Yonhapnews YouTube channel)

Passersbys intervened and stopped the assault, calling for an ambulance to take the woman to hospital, where she later died. They also detained the man until the police arrived.

The police took Park into custody and initially recommended to the prosecution that he be charged with manslaughter after he told officers he was drunk and could not remember why he assaulted her.

However, the prosecution decided to charge Park with murder when they discovered he had searched for murder related articles the day before the crime and about detention centers two weeks before this.