Exclusive: Convicted of Beating Elderly Person to Death, Yet Allowed to Be Re-employed at Care Facilities

[Anchor]

It has been confirmed that even if a care worker is finalized with a guilty verdict for causing the death of an elderly person under their care, they can still be re-employed at care facilities. While assault or battery-related abuse cases block re-employment, there are no particular restrictions when someone commits much heavier crimes such as murder or causing death by violence.

Reporter Kim Minjun has more.

[Reporter]

In November of last year, a male care worker in his 60s, A, kicks an 80-year-old dementia patient in the knee, knocking them down, twists their arm, and slaps their face.

The next day, the elderly person died. In May, the first-instance court found A guilty of "manslaughter by assault" and sentenced him to 4 years in prison, as A denied the charges, claiming he "only pretended to threaten."

[Grandson of the Victim (June): It is a situation where even an apology would not quell the anger, but because he did that (denied it), honestly, it made me feel unbearable rage.]

A appealed the decision, but last month, the second-instance court reached the same conclusion.

However, neither the first nor second-instance trials issued an employment restriction order, which is customarily co-sentenced in elderly abuse trials.

This is because manslaughter by assault is not stipulated as a crime subject to employment restriction orders under the Welfare of the Elderly Act.

While the Welfare of the Elderly Act defines assault, abandonment, intimidation, and battery as elderly abuse-related crimes, more serious offenses such as murder, manslaughter by assault, and fatal battery are omitted.

This contrasts with child abuse-related laws, which not only include murder and fatal battery but also separately stipulate "child abuse resulting in death" to punish it more severely than general manslaughter by assault.

Due to this loophole, even if A's guilty verdict is finalized, only his qualification as a care worker will be revoked for a certain period, leaving him unrestricted from being re-employed at care facilities.

When hiring employees, care facilities must check for a criminal record of elderly abuse that restricts employment. However, manslaughter by assault is not specified as a related crime in police criminal record inquiries.

[Nam In-soon, National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee Member (Democratic Party): (Under current law) there is a huge loophole where murder and causing death do not fall under (elderly abuse-related crimes). As a result, it is a situation where we cannot even figure out how many related criminals are currently working at care facilities.]

During the National Assembly standing committee in 2019, when elderly abuse crimes were codified into law, these offenses were reportedly omitted, and no further discussions have taken place since then.

(Photo: Yonhap News)

Reported by Cho Chang-hyun | Video by Kim Ho-jin | Graphics by Jeon Yu-geun
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.