Cheonan 11-Year-Old Who Pleaded "Send Me to an Orphanage"... Additional Abuse Revealed at First Trial

First Trial for Child Abuse at Cheonan Church
"We Will Decide on Foreseeability of Death After Autopsy Results"

At the first trial of a pastor indicted for chaining a child with intellectual disabilities and causing the child’s death at a church in Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do, additional charges of abuse were revealed. While the pastor’s side generally admitted to the acts of abuse, regarding whether they anticipated the possibility of the child’s death, they stated, “We will make a judgment after reviewing the results of the autopsy.”

11-Year-Old Child Chained for 38 Hours

The maternal grandmother, accused of child abuse resulting in death for abusing her 11-year-old grandchild living in a church in Cheonan, Chungnam, is entering the Cheonan branch of the Daejeon District Court on the morning of the 11th to undergo a pre-arrest warrant hearing. Photo by Yonhap News.

According to Yonhap News on September 21, the first trial for the case involving Pastor A (age 63) and the deceased child B (age 11), as well as B’s maternal grandmother C (age 55), on charges including child abuse resulting in death, was held at the Cheonan Branch, Daejeon District Court, under the jurisdiction of Chief Judge Cho Youngjin.

A and C are accused of chaining B at a church in Cheonan for about 38 hours, from 9:34 p.m. on August 3 to 9:07 p.m. on August 5, and leaving B unattended despite a high fever and signs of exhaustion, resulting in B’s death.

The prosecution stated in the indictment that, in addition to A and C, A’s adopted son D, who was also a member of the church, participated in the process of chaining B with chains. However, D has not yet been brought to trial. A police official explained, “The investigation into the adopted son D is still ongoing and remains at the pre-referral stage,” adding, “We are also continuing to investigate whether other church residents or related persons were involved in additional criminal acts.”

Abuse Followed Plea to Be Sent to an Orphanage

The prosecution believes that, starting from December 2021, the accused repeatedly assaulted and abused B and neglected to intervene despite knowing of each other’s wrongdoing. In particular, the prosecution believes that the systematic abuse and violence began in earnest after B tried to leave the church and report the abuse on July 26 and July 29.

According to the investigation, on those occasions, the accused struck B’s palms and soles dozens of times with a wooden stick, allegedly out of anger. Notably, after discovering that B had asked a police officer to “send me to an orphanage,” A is reported to have abused B by applying medicinal ointment to B’s face and stuffing tissue into B’s mouth. After these incidents, the accused began to physically restrain B to make monitoring easier, according to the investigation.

The prosecution believes that B was bound for a long period and could not receive proper medical treatment, even though B showed signs of exhaustion and a dangerously high fever of up to 41.5 degrees Celsius, which led to a rapid deterioration and ultimately B’s death.

Pastor Admits to Abuse Charges...Next Hearing Scheduled for October 21

While A admitted to the abuse charges, A’s side said they would wait for the autopsy findings before commenting on whether the possibility of B’s death was anticipated. A’s attorney stated, “A has consistently acknowledged almost everything about the abusive acts that he can remember since the investigation stage,” but added, “A comprehensive review is required to evaluate whether B’s death was foreseeable, and since we have not yet reviewed the autopsy results in the records, we will provide our opinion by the next hearing.”

The presiding judge stated, “Depending on the evidence admissions by A’s side, we will determine how to proceed with the examination of evidence,” and scheduled the next hearing for October 21 at 2:10 p.m.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.