Daegu Criminal Law Specialist Attorney | Successful Defense Resulting in Entrustment to Protective Custody Despite Sexual Assault Against a Minor

The client was introduced to the victim by a friend.

They exchanged messages through SNS for about two days and then actually met.

During their conversation, the client, who believed the other party also had a willingness to engage in sexual relations, had the victim come to the basement of a building and had sexual intercourse.

However, the victim reported the client, stating that it was against her will and that she had been forced by the client, 🔗violation of the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth against Sexual Abuse (sexual intercourse by deceit or coercion).

Sexual offenses against children and youth can be punished far more severely than under the general Criminal Act.

▣ Criminal Act Article 297 (Rape)

A person who rapes another by means of violence or intimidation shall be punished by imprisonment for a definite term of at least three years.

▣ Act on the Protection of Children and Youth against Sexual Abuse Article 7 (Rape, Indecent Act by Compulsion, etc. Against Children and Youth)

A person who rapes a child or youth by means of violence or intimidation shall be punished by life imprisonment or imprisonment for at least five years.

In juvenile protection trials, a person aged 14 or older but under 19 is defined as a juvenile offender, a person aged 10 or older but under 14 as a juvenile subject to protective measures, and a person aged 10 or older but under 19 who is likely to commit a crime or delinquency as a status offender.

(* Here, a juvenile offender may be subject not to a protective disposition but to 🔗criminal punishment of a minor.)

The types of juvenile protective disposition for minors are as follows.

At the victim's request, the client went to the area where the incident occurred for the first time, and the victim knew the local geography far better.

Moreover, given that the client was a middle school student at the time and the victim was a high school student one year older, the attorney argued that there was no intent whatsoever to render the victim incapable of resistance and have sexual intercourse.

In typical cases of rape or indecent act by compulsion, violence or intimidation intended to accomplish sexual intercourse or an indecent act is generally involved.

However, in this case, the client did not commit any violence or intimidation against the other party.

The investigation found that while the two were dating, they engaged in physical contact from time to time that gradually escalated, and the attorney argued that, considering the circumstances at the time of the act and beforehand, there could be deemed to have been the other party's implicit consent.

After hearing about the other party's condition, the client is suffering greatly in his heart. He sincerely feels sorry that what he did to satisfy his own desire was felt by the other party as rape and indecent act by compulsion and is causing her distress.

The attorney emphasized that this is evident in the letters of reflection the client writes every day.