Woman punished for biting off tongue of attempted rapist to get retrial 60 years later
A 78-year-old woman who received a suspended prison sentence for fighting off an attempted rapist will have another chance at justice, as a Busan court said Thursday it has decided to hold a retrial for her case that was sentenced 60 years ago.
The Busan High Court accepted Choi Mal-ja's appeal against its earlier decision not to hold a retrial on the case. Choi had initially requested a retrial with the Busan District Court -- which originally sentenced her to a suspended prison term in 1965 -- but the court declined, saying there was no clear evidence to prove her innocence.
The Busan High Court upheld the earlier decision, but Choi took the case to the Supreme Court, which in December 2024 ordered the appellate court to review the case once more. South Korea's highest court noted a high possibility that Choi had been subject to illegal detention during her investigation between 1964 and 1965.
"The testimony (of Choi) is specific and consistent. ... The court cannot find unnatural or unreasonable parts in (Choi's) motivations to request a retrial," the high court said. "There is enough grounds to believe that there had been unlawful arrest and detention without warrant, as dictated by the Criminal Procedure Act."
On May 6, 1964, the then 18-year-old Choi was attacked by a 21-year-old man surnamed Noh, who tried to rape her near her home. In the process, Choi bit off 1.5 centimeters of her attacker's tongue.
Choi claimed self-defense against the attack, but the court found her guilty of violating Article 258 of the Criminal Act, aggravated bodily injury on another. She was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years, while her attacker was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years.
"I said I did nothing wrong, and (the prosecutor) said if I didn't comply, I would have to spend the rest of my life in jail," Choi said in a 2020 interview with The Korea Herald. She said the prosecutor accused her of refusing to take responsibility for crippling a man, and even attempted to coerce her into marrying the attacker, which she did not.
Choi later found out that her father had used the bulk of the family's savings for a settlement with Noh to win leniency for her punishment. Choi said Noh continued to harass her family, even breaking into their home and threatening her and her older sister with a knife.
A May 20, 1973, story in the now-defunct Sunday Seoul magazine confirms Choi's claim about the court trying to pair her up with Noh, saying the judge "persuaded the two families by saying, '(The victim) is already damaged, so it would be better for the two to be paired up and live happily.'"
Choi restarted her education in the 2000s, enrolling in Korea National Open University in 2013. In pursuing her education, Choi said she realized the extent of her the injustice she suffered, which motivated her to fight to reopen her case with assistance from Korea Woman's Hotline, a local group that supports victims of sexual violence.
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