By The soldier involved in the brutal stabbing of a Osan bar worker should actually feel lucky he is getting prosecuted by Korean authorities instead of by a US court martial considering how Korean courts give out notoriously light sentences compared to a US military court martial:
South Korea will prosecute the U.S. soldier accused of stabbing three people last month near Osan Air Base, officials said Wednesday.
South Korea’s Ministry of Justice gave the U.S. military formal notice Tuesday that it would take jurisdiction, said Army Maj. Vincent Mitchell, spokesman for the 2nd Infantry Division.
“Under the [status-of-forces agreement] they have the right to choose,” said Mitchell. “So they’ve let us know that they wanted to exercise jurisdiction.”
The accused soldier is 37-year-old Spc. Abdelkader Raoufi of the 2nd Infantry Division’s 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade.
Korean authorities plan to prosecute Raoufi on charges of attempted murder and inflicting bodily injury with a dangerous instrument in the March 6 incident, Mitchell said.
Authorities contend that Raoufi used a knife to attack a 27-year-old bar worker. Two local men who heard her screams and ran to help her also suffered multiple stab wounds, South Korean police said.
All three have been recovering steadily, police said, but the woman came close to death and for a time had been on life-support and in intensive care with lung and other injuries.
Mitchell said the Army assisted the woman in filing a claim and on March 25 paid her the equivalent of $4,788.68 in Korean won. The two men have not filed claims, he said.
“We regret the incident took place and our sympathies are with the victims involved,” said Mitchell, who said he was expressing the views of the 2nd Infantry Division commander, Maj. Gen. John W. Morgan III. [Stars & Stripes]
It is good to see the 2nd Infantry Division stepping up and aiding the recovery of the victim. Hopefully this continues.
I would think the ROK authorities decided to take this case simply because of the fact two Korean nationals were injured trying to subdue the soldier. When Army Captain Christopher Gray killed his wife the Korean authorities allowed the US to prosecute that case where he ended up being sent to jail for a long time. Hopefully this soldier gets the punishment he deserves as well.
12:45 pm on April 8th, 2009 1
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1:36 pm on April 8th, 2009 2
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5:16 pm on April 8th, 2009 3
So, the USFK and ROK get to choose who gets jurisdiction? What do the individuals being prostecuted think about this? What's the procedure for this?
6:31 pm on April 8th, 2009 4
Since it happened off-base, the ROK authorities automatically have jurisdiction. In the case of a US service member, they can opt to allow the US military to prosecute, and they often do that.
11:22 pm on April 10th, 2009 5
Abdelkader Raoufi With a name like this I wonder if he is an American or someone who is using the military to gain American citizenship. Without any statistics to review, I personally feel there is a higher percent of problems with these "green card" soldiers than with regualar "citizen" soldiers. I wonder if the military is keeping any type of stats.
11:18 am on April 11th, 2009 6
From casual observation I would say it is the exact opposite. Most of the "green card" soldiers are educated and have goals to improve their lives via an opportunity afforded them by serving in the US military. I bet the incident rates for those people are much lower.
I am thinking we just notice non-ordinary names. If John Smith got all stabby, there would be no thoughts in this regard.