Appeals court upholds 20-year sentence for man who sexually assaulted his daughter

A court has upheld a 20-year prison sentence for a man who sexually assaulted his daughter more than 200 times over eight years, beginning when she was 6 years old.

The Busan High Court's Changwon division dismissed an appeal filed by the defendant and upheld the sentence on Sunday. He had been convicted of violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Violence Crimes, including the rape of a minor under the age of 13.

The man divorced his wife in 2014 and took sole custody of his daughter in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, according to the prosecutors. He began abusing her in 2017, when she was 6, and continued through last year, assaulting her more than 200 times.

During the abuse, he threatened his daughter by telling her she would be sent to an orphanage if she refused him, and also produced sexual exploitation material of her. He was also found guilty of sexually molesting his son, who was also in his custody.

The court sentenced the man to 20 years in prison, banned him from working at institutions serving children, adolescents, and people with disabilities for 10 years and ordered five years of probation upon release. 

The defendant "used a child who was his responsibility to protect and raise as a tool to satisfy his sexual urges, and the victim was only 6 years old at the time of the first offense," the court said. "The nature of the crime is extremely heinous, and long-term isolation from society is unavoidable." 

The court rejected prosecutors' request for an electronic ankle monitor upon release, ruling that the risk of reoffending was low.

The offender appealed, arguing the sentence was too harsh, while prosecutors also appealed, as is permitted in the Korean judicial system, contending that it was too lenient and that the rejection of the ankle monitor order was unjustified.

The appeals court sided with neither. "The original court set the sentence after considering the various circumstances surrounding the defendant," the panel said. “There are no changes in the sentencing conditions in the appeals trial, and it is difficult to conclude that electronic ankle monitoring is necessary beyond probation after the completion of the sentence.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

BY PARK JONG-SUH [[email protected]]