(Herald DB)
(Herald DB)

A man was sentenced to a one-year jail term for biting the thigh of a guard at a local detention center and taking drugs while on probation.

The 30-year-old defendant surnamed Cheon was found guilty of charges including drug use, interference with the public officials' duties, and bodily injury to another by the Seoul Western District Court in the recent ruling, court officials said Wednesday.

Cheon reportedly attacked the guard on June 28 last year, while under custody at the Southern Detention Center of Seoul. He shouted profanities at the guard, resisted orders to clean his cell, and protested the procedure to isolate him, biting the victim in the process. He had been in custody for drug use charges, for which he received a suspended jail term.

"(The defendant) bit the thigh of a guard and induced a risk of (the victim) being infected with HIV. He also took drugs while under probation," the court said in its ruling.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, transmission through biting is "rare" and "has only occurred through contact between broken skin, wounds, or mucous membranes and blood or body fluids from a person who has HIV."

Both the defendant and the prosecution have appealed the sentence.


minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com