The wife of webtoon artist and YouTuber Joo Ho-min has demanded punishment for special education teacher A, who is accused of emotionally abusing her son.
According to Yonhap News Agency and others on the 20th, Joo Ho-min's wife expressed her wish for severe punishment during the appeal trial of special education teacher A for violations of the Special Act on Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes and the Welfare of Persons with Disabilities Act, which was held by the Suwon District Court's Criminal Appeal Division 6-2 (Director General Kim Eun-jung, Kang Hee-kyung, Kwon Hyung-seop).
The verdict in A's appeal was scheduled for the 18th of last month, but due to a change in the court panel, the hearings resumed that day. In the meantime, Joo Ho-min's wife expressed her disappointment at A's claim of innocence, stating that "the assertion that 'a child with autism must be taught this way to understand' reflects a belief that children with disabilities are less than even dogs, and this claim is still being repeated in the second trial."
Moreover, she emphasized, "Despite my family being the victims, we have been caught in the whirlwind of public opinion because my husband is a celebrity; our faces, residence, names, and everything else have become known, and we have even received death threats. The defendant's attorney disclosed sensitive counseling information related to the child to the media, and the superintendent wrote a public appeal on the side of the teacher and pushed for the teacher's reinstatement before the truth of the case was clarified, thus committing secondary harm."
In particular, Joo Ho-min's wife requested, "Witnessing a child who makes mistakes with bowel movements several times a day and suffers from severe compulsions, avoiding people, is like hell for a parent. The child has not been able to return to school yet. Please consider the position of the victimized child."
On that day, the prosecution sought a 10-month prison sentence and a 3-year employment restriction for A, just as in the original trial. In this regard, the prosecution explained, "This case involves a child abuse crime where the reporting party is rather the one who has inflicted emotional abuse on the child, indicating extremely poor character, yet the defendant denies the crime and shows no serious remorse."
On the other hand, the defendant's attorney argued that "the recorded contents submitted as evidence cannot be used as evidence to support the charges according to the spirit and literature of the Communications Privacy Protection Act," and added, "Even if the court panel disagrees with our views, the defendant's actions themselves cannot be considered child abuse as defined by the charges."
On Sept. 13, 2022, at an elementary school in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, A was indicted without detention for emotional abuse after allegedly saying to Joo Ho-min's then 9-year-old son, "You are very badly behaved. Ugh, I dislike you. I really dislike you," among other statements. In the first trial, the evidence's admissibility was key because the statements were recorded secretly by Joo Ho-min’s side placing a recorder in the child's outerwear. The first trial court acknowledged the evidence as illegally obtained but considered the exceptional circumstances since the child has autism and recognized the guilt, issuing a suspended sentence along with a fine of 2 million won.
The ruling on A's appeal is expected to take place on May 13.
[Photo] OSEN DB.
[OSEN]