The Supreme Court on Wednesday (25 Oct.) granted leave to proceed with an appeal submitted by the Attorney General, seeking the conviction of a Sri Lankan national who was acquitted of raping and 18-year-old in Korea in 1998.
The relevant decision was delivered following the consideration of the facts presented by Additional Solicitor General Priyantha Nawana to the three-judge Supreme Court bench comprising of Justices S. Thurairajah, Shiran Gooneratne and Janak de Silva.
Three Sri Lankan men in Korea were charged with the rape of 18-year-old Jeong Eun-Hui, a Korean university student who was returning from a late-night party in Daegu city in South Korea, in 1998.
While Korean investigators were only able to muster up the DNA evidence against one of the three men, the DNA profile was subsequently stored away on account of being an “unknown criminal” as per the Korean National Forensic Service, until 2013, when the probe was re-opened.
It was later found out that the suspect was awaiting trial in South Korea in relation to a charge of attempting to have a sexual relationship with a minor in 2010.
He, and the other two individuals involved in the attack were subsequently charged with the rape of Jeong Eun-Hui, but were later acquitted due to a law in South Korea that states a rape charge should be brought within 10 years of such a crime.
