A South Korean man who spent 20 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit has erased his name in court after one of the country’s most notorious serial killers confessed to the rape and murder of a girl from 13 years in 1988
SEOUL, South Korea – A South Korean man who spent 20 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit has erased his name in court after one of the country’s most notorious serial killers confessed to the rape and murder of a 13 year old girl.
Yoon Seong-yeo, 53, had been sentenced to life in prison and was released on parole in 2009. He listened quietly as Judge Park Jeong-je of Suwon District Court apologized Thursday on behalf of justice for having caused it. “immense physical and mental pain” because of the wrong verdict.
“The defendant is innocent,” Park announced. Yoon’s acquittal provoked loud applause from his fans in the gallery.
“I hope no one has to go through what I went through and that all cases receive fair trials,” Yoon told reporters after the sentencing.
Yoon, then a 22-year-old mechanic in the farming town of Hwaseong, was arrested in July 1989 after police accused her of raping and murdering the girl in September 1988.
Between 1986 and 1991, 10 women of various ages were found brutally raped and murdered in the Hwaseong area, and Yoon’s arrest occurred as police faced immense public criticism for their failure to identify the Hwaseong. serial killer.
Police had concluded that Yoon committed an imitative crime. Yoon pleaded not guilty and said police investigators forced him to confess to a crime he did not commit. Suwon District Court sentenced him to life in prison in October 1989, which was upheld by the Supreme Court in May 1990.
It appeared that Hwaseong’s murders would remain unresolved until police announced last year that Lee Chun-jae, a man serving a life sentence for murdering his sister-in-law in 1994, confessed to the murders, including that of the 13-. one year old girl. Yoon requested a new trial in November last year.
Lee testified during Yoon’s new trial last month and repeated his confession.
Hwaseong’s assassinations inspired the 2003 film “Memories of Murder,” the work of director Bong Joon Ho, which won this year’s Oscar for Best Picture for his dark comic thriller “Parasite. .