Factory owner gets three years for assault with compressed-air gun

On Thursday, a man in his 60s received a three-year prison term after the Suwon District Court found him guilty of inserting a compressed-air gun nozzle into a Thai worker’s anus and discharging air for several seconds at a metal-coating plant in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. The victim, in his 40s, suffered a 10-centimetre rectal perforation and required emergency surgery, during which the defendant allegedly mocked him and called him an illegal immigrant while making handcuff gestures.

The court rejected the defendant’s claim that he only fired the gun a few times as a joke, citing the victim’s testimony and medical records. Additional factors influencing the sentence included the owner’s lack of remorse, his attempt to pressure the victim to leave the hospital, and his deduction of medical expenses from the worker’s wages despite a settlement. The owner was also found guilty of assaulting another foreign employee by pushing and pulling hair. Charges against his wife, a company director, were dropped because the victim did not wish her prosecuted.