Pastor in Cheonan Child Abuse Death Case Admits to Abuse

The church pastor indicted and detained for allegedly binding an 11-year-old child with an intellectual disability with an iron chain, leading to death at a church in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, admitted to the acts of abuse during the first trial but stated regarding whether the child's death could have been foreseen that they would "make a judgment after reviewing the autopsy results."

The 1st Criminal Division of the Cheonan Branch of the Daejeon District Court (Presiding Judge Cho Young-jin) held the first hearing today (September 21) for church pastor A (in his 60s) and the deceased B's (11) maternal grandmother C (in her 50s), both of whom were indicted and detained on charges including child abuse resulting in death.

Pastor A's legal representative stated, "Regarding the acts of abuse, we have consistently and largely admitted to all recalled details since the investigative stage," adding, "A comprehensive review is necessary to determine whether the possibility of B's death was foreseen, but since we have not yet verified the autopsy results in the records, we will state our opinion by the next hearing."

Grandmother C's side stated, "We admit to the facts of the indictment," while requesting that the court "take into consideration in sentencing that regarding the binding, C was away from the spot for work, and regarding the abuse acts, C only vaguely knew about them without knowing the specific circumstances."

Pastor A and grandmother C were indicted for allegedly leading B to death by forcing him to wear an adult diaper and binding him to a bed with an iron chain for 38 hours, after which B showed symptoms of a high fever of 41.5 degrees Celsius and impaired consciousness at a church in Cheonan on August 5, and died about three hours after being transferred to a hospital.

Prior to this, they are also charged with becoming angered when B went outside the church on July 26 and 29 and informed the police of the abuse, and repeatedly striking the palms of his hands and soles of his feet dozens of times with a wooden stick.

C was investigated for striking B's face four to five times with the palm of her hand on August 2 because B was allegedly misbehaving.

The prosecution explained that upon learning that B had told a police officer "send me to an orphanage," Pastor A became angry and, at 9 a.m. on the same day in the church's chapel, rubbed a liquid pain reliever (moolpas) on B's body, put tissue paper in his mouth, and slapped his face.

The prosecution also specified in the indictment that D, a church member and the adoptive son of Pastor A, participated in the assault and binding in early August.

The court stated, "We will review how to proceed with evidence examination based on Pastor A's side's acknowledgment or denial of evidence," and set the next hearing for October 21 at 2:10 p.m.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.