Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Evangelical, Pentecostal, and independent Gwangju, Buk-gu, South Korea · 2016

South Korea: pastor convicted after fatally pressing on a congregant's abdomen during a healing prayer for schizophrenia

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

pastor claiming the ability to heal mental illness through 안수기도 (laying-on-of-hands prayer)

Organization

No organization assigned

Spiritual nexus

The victim was subjected to physical force explicitly framed as a cure for her diagnosed mental illness, administered by a pastor whose claimed healing authority substituted for medical treatment and left her pinned beneath him as her injuries became fatal.

Spiritual healing or treatment
Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2016-04-17 · conviction and sentence

Gwangju District Court, Criminal Division 11, South Korea. Pastor 'Oh,' 48, believing he could cure a 38-year-old woman's schizophrenia through laying-on-of-hands prayer, laid her on the floor of a house in Gwangju's Buk-gu district, sat on her abdomen and pressed forcefully with his palms; she died of peritonitis and intestinal hemorrhage caused by the pressure. The Gwangju District Court convicted him of assault resulting in death and sentenced him to three years' imprisonment.

Documented coercion mechanisms

claimed spiritual authority to cure diagnosed schizophrenia through physical prayer rather than medical treatment
physically pinning and pressing on the victim's abdomen while she was laid on the floor, unable to remove herself from the ritual

Primary record

Sources

legal press court reporting sentencing judgment Lawtimes.co.kr, legal-press report on the Gwangju District Court conviction for assault resulting in death arising from a healing-prayer session for schizophrenia.: Reports the healing-prayer framing, the physical pressure applied to the victim's abdomen, the fatal peritonitis and intestinal hemorrhage, the conviction, and the three-year sentence.

Related record

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