Manager Gets 15 Years for Acid Attack on Ex-Employee

The Supreme Court has upheld a lower court’s 15-year prison sentence for a corporate manager who masterminded a sulfuric acid attack against a former employee who was suing him.

The 29-year-old CEO of an electronics equipment manufacturer was convicted of getting an employee to throw the acid in the face of the former employee, who had filed civil and criminal lawsuits against the CEO. The woman, 27, suffered serious burns.

In addition, the top court also sentenced to 12 years in prison the employee who threw the acid under his boss’s order and another worker to one year with a two-year stay of execution for helping transport the toxic chemical.

Another employee who helped them fabricate their alibis also received a suspended term of eight months in prison.

The court acknowledged that the CEO collaborated with several of his employees to attack the former worker with the acid. The charge of attempted murder was thrown out, however, in consideration of the area where the acid was thrown at the victim`s body and the low possibility of death caused by the assault.

The executive was charged with collaborating with his men to inflict third-degree chemical burns on the woman, who was also an investor in his business, after she sued him for unpaid wages and accused him of fraud.

dawn@donga.com