A teenage girl has been sentenced to serve jail time for causing a fatal electric scooter accident that left one person dead and another injured in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, last year, local reports said Friday.
The Uijeongbu District Court on Thursday sentenced the high school student to six to eight months in prison without labor and a fine of 200,000 won ($140). She was convicted of occupational negligence resulting in death or injury under the Special Act on Traffic Accident Handling and driving without a license under the Road Traffic Act.
The accident occurred on June 8, 2024, at Ilsan Lake Park, when the girl, while driving on a bike path at a speed of around 21 kilometers per hour, struck the two victims in their 60s.
The couple was taken to a hospital, but the wife died nine days later from her injuries.
The court also rejected the claim by the defendant that the accident occurred while she tried to avoid a bicycle. The main cause of the crash, the court ruled, was her riding in the park, where e-scooters are banned, without a license, while exceeding the speed limit and with two people on a single-rider scooter.
Under South Korea’s Juvenile Act, offenders under the age of 19 can be sentenced to a term with upper and lower limits for imprisonment. Once the lower limit is served, the juvenile may be evaluated by correctional authorities for release.
shinjh@heraldcorp.com
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