Jang Yun-gi, 23, facing murder charges and other allegations, is transferred from the Western Police Station in Gwangju's Seo-gu to prosecutors on May 14. [Newsis]
Jang Yun-gi, 23, facing murder charges and other allegations, is transferred from the Western Police Station in Gwangju's Seo-gu to prosecutors on May 14. [Newsis]

Prosecutors said they never received any communication from the police officers who handled the Jang Yun-gi case requesting supplementary investigation into rape-murder charges.

According to Yonhap on Tuesday, the investigative records that the Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station submitted to the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office on May 14 included an additional report stating, in effect, that the case was being referred on simple murder charges because rape-murder would be difficult to prove.

The two-page report also noted that the police investigation team had examined five circumstantial indicators suggesting Jang's crimes were sexually motivated — among them a damaged sex doll and a sexual assault he committed against another woman shortly before killing the high school student.

A prosecutors' official said the report's main thrust was that rape-murder would be difficult to prove, and that nowhere in the document was there a direct request — or even a contextual mention — that rape-murder charges should be reviewed or pursued through supplementary investigation.

The official also said the cable ties, a key piece of evidence, were not mentioned in the report. The cable ties — a restraint found inside Jang's vehicle when he attempted to abduct the high school student, and which the lead detective at Gwangsan Police Station was accused of destroying — were found through prosecutors' direct investigation to have been purchased at a household goods store in December last year.

Prosecutors' supplementary investigation also confirmed, through analysis of in-vehicle sensors and data, that Jang had left the rear door of his vehicle open for three minutes at the time of the high school student's killing.

The additional police report was disclosed to the media through the legal representative of a senior police inspector — identified only as Inspector A — who had led the Jang Yun-gi investigation as head of the criminal division at Gwangsan Police Station. The disclosure came on Tuesday, July 21, the day a pre-arrest warrant hearing was held for Inspector A on charges including dereliction of duty.

In connection with the case, the National Police Workplace Council — an alternative labor organization for police officers — has been staging a one-person protest outside the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office, demanding that prosecutors publicly state their position.


ehkim@heraldcorp.com