Doctor gets 16 years for assaulting patients, supplying drugs to ‚Rolls-Royce hit-and-run driver‘

Yeom, who illegally prescribed narcotics to the perpetrator of the Apgujeong Rolls-Royce hit-and-run case, leaves the Seoul Central District Court docket in Seocho District, Seoul, after a pretrial detention listening to on Dec. 27, 2023. Newsis

A physician accused of sexually assaulting sufferers underneath anesthesia and prescribing narcotics to a driver of a Rolls-Royce concerned in a deadly accident was sentenced to 16 years in jail in his second trial.

The Seoul Excessive Court docket stated Wednesday that its felony division, led by presiding choose Hwang Jin-gu, sentenced physician Yeom to 16 years in jail and imposed a effective of 5 million received ($3,800) for fees together with violations of medical legislation.

The courtroom decreased the sentence by one yr from the 17-year time period handed down within the first trial.

“As a health care provider and approved handler of narcotics, the defendant exploited his place to fulfill his deviant sexual needs,“ the courtroom stated within the ruling. „He dedicated crimes over an prolonged interval, benefiting from the victims‘ incapacity to recollect on account of sedation, demonstrating extraordinarily poor ethical character.”

Crimes involving medicine, sexual assault

Yeom was prosecuted for administering a mixture of propofol and different narcotics to the Rolls-Royce driver concerned within the Apgujeong Rolls-Royce hit-and-run case in August final yr, which resulted within the loss of life of a pedestrian. He additionally falsified medical data associated to the case.

A forensic investigation of Yeom’s telephone uncovered proof that he had sexually assaulted greater than 10 ladies underneath sedation and illegally filmed the acts.

Extra fees underneath the Act on Particular Circumstances In regards to the Punishment of Sexual Crimes, together with unauthorized filming, quasi-rape and quasi-indecent assault, had been filed towards him.

Whereas the primary trial sentenced Yeom to 17 years in jail, the appellate courtroom decreased the time period, citing his regret and efforts to compensate the victims, together with a big deposit for damages.

“The courtroom thought-about the restitution efforts as a restricted issue for sentencing however discovered {that a} heavy sentence was unavoidable given the severity of the crimes,” the courtroom stated.

The courtroom emphasised the profound psychological trauma suffered by the victims, noting that some skilled suicidal impulses, with one tragically taking her personal life.

“The defendant has not obtained express forgiveness from any of the victims,” the courtroom stated. It additionally condemned Yeom for prioritizing revenue over medical ethics, and utilizing psychotropic medicine as an alternative of offering correct therapy, which precipitated important hurt to society.

This text from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Occasions, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Occasions.