A pastor in his 60s who was indicted and detained on charges of abusing an 11-year-old child with an intellectual disability to death at a church in Cheonan, South Chungcheong, was also found to have worked as the child's activity support worker for people with disabilities and even received pay.
In particular, signs were found that activity support services were recorded as having been provided during the roughly 30 hours just before the child died, even while the child was chained to a bed.
According to the South Chungcheong Provincial Police Agency and Cheonan City on the 11th, Pastor A, in his 60s, was found to have registered a total of 15 hours and 30 minutes as disability activity support service provision time over three days from the 3rd to the 5th of last month, when boy B, 11, died.
Activity support for people with disabilities is a program that provides assistance such as physical activities, housekeeping, and mobility support to help with daily life and social activities. When a trained activity support worker provides services, wages are paid through vouchers and the like.
According to investigators, boy B left the church on the 2nd and 3rd of last month in succession and went to the police with help from citizens, and during questioning reportedly said to the effect that he "was hit by his maternal grandmother."
After returning to the church, boy B was was found to have been left chained to a bed for about 30 hours until paramedics were dispatched after a church official reported that "the child is sick."
Pastor A, who was indicted and detained on charges of child abuse resulting in death, and boy B's maternal grandmother in her 50s reportedly told investigators that they bound him to keep him from leaving the church, saying that boy B did not follow instructions well and left home to dine and stay without paying, making it difficult to manage him.
Pastor A is suspected of binding and abusing boy B, and at the same time was registered as B's activity support worker for people with disabilities and received activity support pay.
According to data that lawmaker Kim Yun of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the Health and Welfare Committee, received from Cheonan City, boy B was approved for up to 120 hours per month of disability activity support services. Cheonan City received the application for activity support services in April, went through one appeal, and approved the services on June 23.
For boy B, records show 22 hours and 30 minutes in June, 114 hours and 30 minutes in July, and 15 hours and 30 minutes last month of activity support service use. Police believe Pastor A abused boy B while inputting service hours using a disability activity support voucher card and the like to receive pay, and are investigating the circumstances.
Under current law, activity support workers for people with disabilities are restricted from working if they have certain family relationships such as being a direct lineal ascendant of the person with a disability. Pastor A does not have a family relationship with boy B, so it appears he was able to register as an activity support worker.
The first trial for Pastor A is scheduled to be held on the 21st at the Cheonan branch of the Daejeon District Court.