The Korea Herald

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Father gets suspended term for beating daughter with bamboo stick, physical workouts

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Published : Nov. 9, 2011 - 13:49

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A Seoul appellate court on Wednesday upheld a lower court ruling and sentenced the father of a teenage girl to a suspended prison term for beating her with a bamboo stick and forcing her to do long physical workouts.

The father, identified as Choi, 48, was indicted last year on charges of harsh treatment of his 15-year-old daughter. In addition to beating her with a bamboo stick, he was accused of forcing her to run on a treadmill for more than an hour at a time and to perform other workouts as punishment for not studying hard or being wasteful.

The father even kept the girl from attending school, and his ex-wife reported him to authorities.

Choi claimed the treatment was part of his way of raising and disciplining his daughter.

The appellate division of the Seoul Central District Court did not buy his argument, however, and reaffirmed the lower court sentence of four months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

"Considering the reasons and methods of his punishments, and the victim’s age and gender, what he did to his daughter cannot be seen as objectively reasonable in light of social norms," presiding judge Lee Jae-young said. (Yonhap News)

 

<한글 기사>

'10대 딸에 PT체조ㆍ죽도로 체벌' 아버지 처벌

서울중앙지법 형사항소2부(이재영 부장판사)는 중학교에 다니는 10대 딸을 체벌하고 가혹하게 훈육한 혐의(아동복지법 위반)로 기소된 최모(48)씨에 대한 항소심에서 1심과 같이 징역 4월에 집행유예 2년을 선고했다고 9일 밝혔다.

조선족 출신 A씨와 결혼한 최씨는 2004년 이혼한 뒤 양육자로 지정돼 딸을 키우던 중 ‘귀가가 늦는다’, ‘성적이 떨어졌다’, ‘이면지를 쓰지 않는다’는 등의 이유를 내세워 2009년 무렵부터 딸을 죽도(竹刀)로 때리거나 장시간 PT 체조를 시키는 등 벌을 줬다.

이후 최씨가 딸을 2차례 학교에도 보내지 않는 일까지 벌어지자 지난해 A씨는 최씨를 아동학대 혐의로 고발했다.

재판부는 "경위와 수단, 방법, 피해자의 성별, 연령을 고려하면 훈육방식에 사회통념상 객관적 타당성이 있다고 볼 수 없다"고 판단했다.

최씨는 나름대로 아이를 훈육하고 운동을 시킨 것이라고 항변했지만 재판부는 받아들이지 않았다.