[Herald DB]
[Herald DB]

A man in his 40s who beat a debtor with a blunt object for failing to repay an illegal gambling loan has been sentenced to prison.

The Daegu District Court's Criminal Division 8 Judge Kim Mi-kyung sentenced the man, identified only as A, to one year and six months in prison on charges including violation of the Act on Fair Debt Collection for striking a debtor while demanding repayment of an illegal gambling loan.

In April 2017, A summoned the debtor, identified as B, to an apartment in Buk-gu, Daegu, over an unpaid illegal gambling loan of 10.8 million won ($7,860). A then struck B on the buttocks 10 times with a blunt object, saying, "What were you thinking, not paying the money back?"

A fled to the Philippines that same month after police launched an investigation. Philippine immigration authorities apprehended him in May last year, and he was deported to South Korea in September of that year.

"The defendant has admitted to all charges," the court said in its ruling, adding that it took into account the victim's wish not to see the defendant punished and the fact that A had been held in a Philippine immigration detention facility for about three months.


choigo@heraldcorp.com