After cutting off ankle monitor, man who served 12 years for sex crimes sentenced to additional 20 months

A man in his 40s who served 12 years in prison for sex crimes against women has been sentenced again after cutting off his electronic ankle monitor and fleeing following his release.

[KOREA JOONGANG DAILY]

A man in his 40s who served 12 years in prison for sex crimes against women has been sentenced again after cutting off his electronic ankle monitor and fleeing following his release.

The Cheongju District Court’s Criminal Division 5 sentenced the man to one year and eight months in prison for violating the Act on the Attachment of Electronic Devices, the court announced Sunday.

The man was indicted for using an industrial grinder and cutting tool to sever the location-tracking device attached to his ankle in the basement of a commercial building in Seowon District, Cheongju, on Aug. 22 before fleeing.

He traveled by public transportation through Jinju and Gimhae before reaching Busan, where he was arrested about 17 hours later.

In 2012, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and a 10-year electronic monitoring order after breaking into a university dormitory in South Gyeongsang and attempting to rape a female student, then sexually assaulting a convenience store worker at knifepoint. He was released last year.

“Just over a year after his release, he cut off his electronic monitoring device and fled,” said the court. “The fact that the act was premeditated makes a custodial sentence unavoidable. However, it does not appear that he committed the act with the intention of reoffending in sexual violence, and he has acknowledged his wrongdoing, which was taken into account in determining 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 KIM EUN-BIN [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]