Wife acquitted of raping husband in first legal case

By Park Sae-jin Posted : September 9, 2016, 17:47 Updated : September 9, 2016, 17:47

[An image captured from Channel A]


A 41-year-old wife was acquitted Friday of raping her husband after locking and binding him with a plastic tape in the first legal case of its kind.

The Seoul Central District Court ruled that it's hard to prove that the husband had forced sexual relations against his will under physical threat or violence. It was South Korea's first legal case in which a wife has been charged with marital rape. The Supreme Court recognized spousal rape as a crime in May 2013.

Prosecutors had sought a seven-year jail term for the wife surnamed Shim for forcing her husband to have sex with her in May last year after he asked for a divorce.

The court, however, said it's very probable for Shim to have acquired some form of "consent" from her husband, judging from their act and conversation, because he was able to walk around.

Yet, Shim received a suspended two-year sentence on conviction of locking her husband in a house for 29 hours and inflicting injuries on him. At an earlier hearing, the wife admitted she had locked her husband but refused to accept rape charges insisting she had secured prior consent to have sex.

Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
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