Two teenage girls receive suspended sentences for torturing, sexually exploiting peer

Two teenage girls who assaulted a peer, subjected her to water torture, forced her to perform sexual acts and distributed the footage have received suspended prison sentences. The ruling was finalized without appeal.

The Namyangju Branch of the Uijeongbu District Court's Criminal Division 1, presided over by Chief Judge Kim Guk-sik, sentenced defendant A, 19, to one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years, on charges including joint bodily injury, aggravated intimidation, coercion and violations of the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth from Sexual Abuse, according to legal sources Sunday.

Defendant B, 16, who faced charges of joint bodily injury and violations of the same child and youth protection law, received a one-year prison sentence suspended for two years.

The two visited the home of their peer, identified as C, on the afternoon of Sept. 18, 2024. Investigators found they believed C was connected to an assault on one of their friends.

After entering the home, A threatened C with a weapon and forced her into a bathtub, where she subjected her to water torture. B, meanwhile, beat C with a plastic bottle and a wooden spatula as she tried to get out.

The pair also forced C into a moving box and kicked it, burned her with a lit cigarette and forced her to eat toothpaste.

C sustained a spinal sprain and second-degree burns to her face and other parts of her body from the assault.

Sex crimes by the two were also uncovered during the investigation.

On Sept. 23 of the same year, A was drinking and playing games with peers at a studio apartment in Nowon-gu, Seoul, when she forced another girl, identified as D, to strip completely as a game penalty, coerced her into performing sexual acts and filmed it on a mobile phone.

B later received the footage and, toward the end of that month, distributed it in a group chat on SNS that included the victim's younger brother and several others.

The court said the defendants' "conduct is poor in light of the circumstances, nature and methods of the crimes," but said they "acknowledged their actions and showed a remorseful attitude."

However, the court added that "their character is still being formed, both at the time of the crimes and to this day, leaving room for future behavioral improvement and rehabilitation." It said sentencing also took into account that the defendants had reached settlements with some of the victims and had no prior record of juvenile protective dispositions or criminal punishment.

The first-instance ruling was finalized as neither prosecutors nor the defendants appealed.