S Korea police chief quits over bungled murder case
S Korea: South Korea's police chief resigned yesterday
following public fury at a bungled case in which a woman was raped and
murdered after frantically calling police for help. National Police
Agency chief Cho Hyun-Oh said he would step down to "take all
responsibility... for unpardonable carelessness" by the police and asked
the victim's family for forgiveness.
"I express my deepest regret at the police's negligence which had
such a horrendous result and attempts to cover it up with lies," Cho
told a press conference.
The dismembered body of the 28-year-old woman was found on April 2 in
the city of Suwon, south of Seoul, about 13 hours after she had called
the police emergency number from her home to report a rape attempt.
She gave police a detailed location for her home before the intruder
broke into her room on the evening of April 1. The phone line remained
open for five more minutes, with the victim heard screaming in pain and
begging for her life.
Police Monday morning found the killer, a 42-year-old Korean-Chinese
immigrant worker, putting the victim's body parts into trash bags after
dismembering the body at his home nearby.
Police admitted miscommunication between the emergency call centre
and officers on duty as well as bureaucratic shortcomings, which led
them to search the wrong area for hours.
AFP |