Appellate court upholds 20-yr prison sentence for university freshman in campus rape case

The suspect in a campus rape and death case at Inha University leaves a police station in Incheon, west of Seoul, as he is escorted to the prosecution on Jul. 22, 2022.(Yonhap)

An appellate court on Thursday upheld a 20-year prison sentence for a university freshman on charges of causing a female schoolmate to fall from a school building to her death while attempting to rape her last year.

The former student of Inha University in Incheon, west of Seoul, is accused of attempting to rape the inebriated victim and causing her to fall to her death from the five-story campus building on July 15, 2022.

A passerby later found her lying on the ground and had her sent to a hospital, but she died. The man was found to have thrown away her clothes and fled the scene after she fell, without seeking emergency help for her.

A district court had previously sentenced him to 20 years in prison, convicting him of quasi-rape resulting in death. The Seoul High Court on Thursday upheld the 20-year sentence.

The appeals court, however, dismissed the charges raised by prosecutors against him of murdering the victim by willful negligence and sexually assaulting her. Prosecutors had demanded a life sentence for him.

"It is difficult to recognize intentionality in the crime," the court said.

The court said it decided to maintain the 20-year sentence despite a petition for a "severe" punishment from the victim's family, given the victim's age and the circumstances of the crime.

"The mental and physical pain, and resentment that the victim must have felt cannot be fathomed, and the bereaved must live with incurable pain for their whole lives," the court said, adding the weight of the crime is equal to that of murder.

The court also upheld the district court's decision ordering him to undergo 80 hours of sex offender treatment, and barred him from employment at children and youth facilities for 10 years. (Yonhap)