[Herald DB]
[Herald DB]

A group that robbed a sex worker while posing as a client has been sentenced to prison terms.

The 11th Criminal Division of Suwon District Court sentenced A, a teenager, to a maximum of two years and six months and a minimum of two years in prison on charges including aggravated robbery, according to legal sources Monday.

Three co-defendants — identified only as B and two others — received sentences of three years, two years and six months, and two years and six months suspended for four years, respectively.

The group was indicted on charges of assaulting a Thai woman in her 50s and stealing her mobile phone and other belongings worth about 2 million won ($1,490) from an officetel in Paldal-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, at around 3 a.m. on March 30.

The defendants had met at youth shelters and were drifting between motels and inns. They reportedly posed as a client seeking paid sex and broke into the victim's officetel to commit the crime in order to raise living expenses.

A also faces charges of using someone else's ID to rent a car, driving without a license for about 100 kilometers, and stealing a graphics card from a motel computer.

B was additionally charged with attempted blackmail for allegedly threatening a former girlfriend that he would post a sex video of her online unless she paid him.

The court said the defendants had "planned a robbery targeting a woman engaged in illegal prostitution, subdued her by choking and took her belongings — conduct that cannot be viewed favorably."

The court added that it took into account mitigating factors, including the return of the stolen phone to the victim, the passive involvement of some defendants, and the fact that a juvenile offender was among those charged.


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