Jang Yun-gi, 23, accused of murder and other charges, is transferred from Seobu Police Station in Seo-gu, Gwangju, to prosecutors on May 14. [Newsis]
Jang Yun-gi, 23, accused of murder and other charges, is transferred from Seobu Police Station in Seo-gu, Gwangju, to prosecutors on May 14. [Newsis]

While Jang Yun-gi, 23, remains in custody on charges of brutally killing a high school girl he had never met in central Gwangju, it has emerged that his father — a serving police officer — destroyed and disposed of key evidence, including a sex doll and four mobile phones, that could have supported the sexual-crime motive in the case. Under a family-member exemption in the Criminal Act, however, the father cannot be punished.

According to MBN, Inspector Jang, a man in his 50s attached to the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency and the father of Jang Yun-gi, cleared out all belongings from his son's residence on May 8, three days after the murder.

Inspector Jang entered the studio apartment where his son had lived immediately after police conducted a search and seizure there. He dismantled a sex doll and discarded the pieces at multiple locations across Gwangju, then burned four mobile phones — including one used by Jang Yun-gi and others belonging to family members.

The mobile phones prosecutors later recovered were so badly damaged they could not be analyzed.

The evidence destruction came to light after prosecutors grew suspicious about the items police had submitted from the search and seizure.

Noticing that no sex doll was among the seized items, prosecutors obtained an additional search warrant. Closed-circuit television footage then showed the father carrying the doll out of the apartment.

Despite the findings, prosecutors did not indict the father, citing the Criminal Act provision that exempts family members from punishment for destroying evidence on behalf of a relative.

Article 155 of the Criminal Act mandates punishment for anyone who destroys evidence in another person's criminal case, but carves out an exception when a family member commits the act to protect a relative.

The initial investigation into the Jang Yun-gi case was handled by Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station, where Inspector Jang had been assigned to a local precinct until March last year. He currently works at a different precinct in Gwangju and has applied for a leave of absence starting in mid-July.

The revelation that the father escaped punishment despite destroying evidence has prompted a legislative response. A bill to remove the family-member exemption from the Criminal Act has been introduced in the National Assembly.

Han Jeong-ae, a lawmaker of the Democratic Party of Korea, submitted the bill on Thursday, seeking to strike the family-member exemption clauses that currently apply to offenses including harboring criminals and destroying evidence.

"Korea's family exemption covers a comparatively broad range of relatives compared with other countries, which works in favor of perpetrators," Han said, adding that she would "abolish the family exemption system under the Criminal Act in line with the changing times, so that serious crimes are thoroughly investigated and perpetrators are appropriately punished."


yeonjoo7@heraldcorp.com