A high school girl who was severely bruised and unconscious at a church in Incheon, South Korea, was taken to a hospital but later pronounced dead. The police have since launched an investigation into the incident.
According to the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency’s Women and Juvenile Crime Investigation Unit on the 16th, a female member of the church in her 50s has been urgently arrested without a warrant and is under investigation on charges of child abuse under the Child Welfare Act. The suspect is accused of abusing a teenage girl at a church in Namdong District, Incheon, the day before. She reported to 119 (Korean emergency number) around 8 p.m. the previous day that “The victim lost consciousness while eating,” adding that “she had difficulty eating recently and food is coming out of her mouth (now).”
When the police responded to the joint response request from the fire department, the victim was found collapsed in a room inside the church. She had bruises all over her body including her face, and was wearing protective gear on both wrists. The victim had difficulty breathing and received CPR while being taken to the hospital by the 119 emergency services, but passed away after four hours.
The police, assuming that the victim had been abused before her death, urgently arrested the suspect early that morning. The police are focusing their investigation on whether there is a casual relationship between the suspect’s abusive behavior and the victim’s death.
They are also planning to request an autopsy from the National Forensic Service to confirm the exact cause of death. A police official said, “We arrested the suspect early this morning and have not yet conducted a thorough investigation,” and added, “We plan to verify the motive for the crime and the relationship with the victim.”