Man in his 20s sentenced to 4 years for beating, robbing female peers

A court has sentenced a man in his 20s to prison for repeatedly assaulting young women and a minor he had staying at his home, including burning them with a heated knife.

Judge Byeon Seong-hwan of the Busan District Court's Criminal Division 4 sentenced A (21) to four years in prison Thursday on charges including aggravated injury, unlawful confinement, extortion and aggravated assault, Yonhap reported.

Co-defendant B (21), who was indicted on assault and intimidation charges, was fined 2 million won ($1,420).

According to the ruling, A and B had been living together since October 2025 at a residential address in Busanjin-gu, Busan. Two victims — C (19) and D (19), whom they had met through mutual acquaintances — also stayed at the home for about two weeks.

It was during this period that A began a pattern of indiscriminate violence and extortion.

A repeatedly assaulted the victims over trivial pretexts — claiming they had not answered him properly, that they snored, or that they walked incorrectly.

He struck one victim on the head with an empty liquor bottle and, accusing another of giving him a cold, grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head against a window multiple times, causing injury.

He intimidated the frightened victims into opening new mobile phone accounts before seizing the handsets. While one victim slept, he held a phone to her face to unlock it via facial recognition and drained hundreds of thousands of won from her account.

To prevent the victims from escaping, he forced one into a vehicle and drove for about 40 minutes while keeping her confined inside.

A's abuse extended to a minor as well.

In December of that year, angered by the behavior of a 15-year-old middle school girl, A heated a kitchen knife with a cigarette lighter for tens of seconds and pressed it against the victim's left wrist and ankle, inflicting serious burns.

The court also found him guilty of harboring a runaway youth without reporting it to authorities, habitual unlicensed driving, and evading military service by ignoring both his conscription physical examination notice and his active-duty induction order.

B also took part in the crimes. When the female victims demanded an apology for past beatings, B threatened them, saying "Get ready to be hit — I'll just go to prison afterward," and slapped them.

The court said in its sentencing rationale that the victims had not forgiven the defendants and that A had flouted his military obligations at the time of the offenses. "Even taking into account that he is a first-time offender with no prior criminal record and is young, severe punishment commensurate with the gravity of his crimes is unavoidable," the court said.

husn7@heraldcorp.com