Court: "Heinous and Inhumane Conduct"
"Permanent Isolation from Society"
Yang Jung-ryul, who murdered a man of the same age he did not even know and took out a loan using the victim's fingerprint, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the so-called "Gimcheon Officetel Murder Case."
According to the legal community on December 9, the First Division of the Supreme Court (Presiding Justice Noh Taeak) recently upheld the original verdict, sentencing Yang Jung-ryul (32), who was indicted on charges including robbery-murder and attempted abandonment of a corpse, to life imprisonment and ordering him to wear an electronic monitoring device for 20 years.
Yang Jung-ryul, who murdered a man he did not even know and then took out a loan of 60 million won using the victim's fingerprints, has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Daegu District Prosecutors' Office Gimcheon Branch
In November last year, at an officetel in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, Yang Jung-ryul killed the victim, Mr. A (then 31), whom he had never met before. He then took the victim's ID card and cash card, making purchases worth several million won. Immediately after the crime, he used the victim's smartphone and fingerprint to obtain a quick loan of about 60 million won, which highlighted the brutality of his actions.
Investigations revealed that Yang had been unemployed for about a year and five months and was struggling with the burden of repaying loans when he decided to commit the crime. He prepared a weapon in advance to rob an unspecified person of money and valuables, and after the crime, he purchased items online such as ethanol and wet wipes to destroy evidence, showing signs of meticulous planning. The prosecution sought the death penalty, the highest sentence under the law.
The court of first instance sentenced him to life imprisonment, stating, "We cannot overlook the need for a severe punishment commensurate with the defendant's heinous and inhumane crime. To permanently isolate the defendant from society, we impose the heaviest penalty after the death sentence."
The appellate court also upheld the life sentence, stating, "With the intent to overcome his dire economic situation, he decided to rob an unspecified person and killed the victim by stabbing him multiple times with a weapon he had prepared in advance. The nature of the crime is extremely egregious."
Yang Jung-ryul appealed the ruling, but the Supreme Court found no fault in the previous judgments and dismissed his appeal.
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