The brutal murder of a high school girl by Jang Yun-gi, 23, who had no prior acquaintance with the victim, has been determined to be a premeditated crime aimed at sexual assault, following supplementary investigation by prosecutors. After the police investigation, prosecutors identified Jang's motive and movements, applying the charge of rape-murder, which carries a heavier sentence than ordinary murder.
The Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office Criminal Division 3 (led by Chief Prosecutor Kim Jin-hee) announced Tuesday that it had indicted Jang in custody on charges including violation of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes (rape-murder, assault) and attempted murder.
According to the prosecution's investigation, Jang attempted to abduct Lee Chae-won, 17, a second-year high school student walking home alone, near a high school in Wolgye-dong, Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, at around 12:11 a.m. on the 5th of last month, for sexual purposes, and killed her with a weapon. He also faces charges of attempted murder for wielding a weapon at a male high school student who rushed to the scene after hearing Lee's screams.
The police, who handled the initial investigation, referred Jang to the prosecution under the general murder charge under the Criminal Act. Prosecutors then identified additional motives for Jang's crime through supplementary investigation. The investigation team determined that Jang's claim that he "committed the crime impulsively while trying to commit suicide due to feeling life was meaningless" was false, after enhancing dashcam footage quality, conducting forensics, analyzing seized items, interviewing the autopsy doctor, and conducting integrated psychological analysis.
Prosecutors concluded that Jang's crime was rooted in a distorted view of sexuality. The search of his residence uncovered a "real doll" (sex toy) that had been broken into multiple pieces. In addition, in the early hours of the 3rd of last month, two days before the schoolgirl murder, Jang broke into the home of a foreign woman in her 20s identified as A, a part-time work colleague, where he raped her and held her captive for 13 hours. After A reported him to the police, Jang wandered the streets carrying a weapon to seek revenge and targeted Lee for his crime. When he grabbed Lee from behind and tried to drag her away, Lee resisted, crying "save me," and Jang brutally killed her with the weapon.
The general murder charge initially applied to Jang by police carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison, but the rape-murder charge ultimately applied in the indictment carries a statutory penalty of death or life imprisonment.
Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho stressed, "We will do our utmost to ensure that such criminals do not receive unjust sentence reductions through excuses such as mental incapacity or false letters of repentance during trial," adding, "We will also do our best in psychological healing for the bereaved families' swift return to daily life and in preparing measures to prevent crime and recurrence."
