"It is essential to have a safeguard that allows us to reexamine a case from an objective perspective."
On the 12th, according to Yonhap News, the victim in the "Busan roundhouse kick" case, a person surnamed Kim, said there were problems with the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act centered on abolishing the prosecution's supplementary investigation authority, and called for balanced system improvements to protect crime victims.
The "Busan roundhouse kick" case that Kim experienced was initially known as a "random assault," but supplementary investigation by prosecutors later revealed that the crime was committed for the purpose of sexual assault.
The incident occurred in Seomyeon, Busanjin-gu, Busan, in May 2022. The assailant, a person surnamed Lee, brutally assaulted Kim on the way home. Police sent the case to prosecutors on aggravated assault charges, but prosecutors indicted on attempted murder, and in the first trial Lee was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
However, during the appeal, new circumstances confirmed that the crime was an attempted rape-murder. CCTV footage from the scene, statements from responding officers, and the jeans the victim was wearing at the time were submitted as key evidence. The assailant's DNA was detected on the inside of the jeans, which were not structured to come off easily. Prosecutors then changed the indictment from attempted murder to attempted rape-murder.
The appeals court said, "The defendant committed the crime by targeting the victim for a sex offense," found the sex crime charges guilty, and sentenced Lee to 20 years in prison.
Afterward, in the government compensation lawsuit Kim filed over the botched initial investigation, the court also ruled for the plaintiff.
Kim pointed out that the case "is a representative example of how much the substance of a case can change depending on an investigator's will and tenacity."
Kim said, "With the same jeans, some found nothing, while others uncovered the truth through tenacity," adding, "If police had investigated properly from the start, I might have recovered from the damage more quickly and felt less threatened for my life."
Kim continued, "I want to ask (the officers who investigated at the time) whether they could not have paid just a little more attention," and said, "If it had been a situation where I, the victim, did not have to step forward myself, I would not be living as I am now in fear that I could die at any moment."
Kim added, "Even now the reality is like this, so if the prosecution's supplementary investigation function disappears as well, where will crime victims get another chance to have a case reviewed?"
Kim also noted, "Even while claiming to stand for victims, the prosecution reform process has never once properly incorporated victims' opinions," and pointed out, "If the supplementary investigation authority is abolished, no one explains what will change in victims' rights or how the harm will be remedied."
Kim added, "Rather, due to recent prosecution reforms, the time victims wait for verdicts has grown longer, and discussions on amending the Criminal Procedure Act seem focused only on expanding offenders' rights, such as shortening detention periods, conditional release, and strengthening suspects' rights."
Kim said, "Eliminating the function of a single institution itself can upset the balance," adding, "I think that, rather than creating new systems, supplementing the shortcomings of existing systems and improving them is the path for our society to move in a better direction."