Suspect caught for unprovoked assault in public bathroom

By Bahk Eun-ji

Police apprehended a man Tuesday for allegedly launching an unprovoked assault on a woman in a public restroom.

A man was arrested for allegedly attacked a woman at a public restroom in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Korea Times file

According to Gyeonggi Ilsan Dongbu Police Station, the man attacked the 30-year-old woman, a total stranger to him, in the restroom of a commercial building in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, around 1:30 a.m. Sept. 22.

He allegedly blocked her from exiting a restroom stall and hit her in the face and head a number of times, before fleeing. The woman was visiting a singing room there with her husband. Although the woman cried for help, other people couldn't hear her because of noise from the karaoke machines, according to police.

Police said the woman has been hospitalized with injuries that require over three weeks to recover. She is also receiving psychological therapy.

Through surveillance footage of the building, police apprehended the suspect who was stationed at a nearby military unit. They also obtained a cap which the suspect dropped at the site, and sent it to the National Forensic Service for testing.

The soldier was on leave when the incident took place, police said.

He first denied assaulting the woman, claiming he was not the one in the video clip. But later he admitted it, saying he did not remember exactly how and why he assaulted the woman because he was drunk.

“We sent the case to the military prosecution,” a police officer said.