"Not Mom or Uncle's" Girlfriend's Two-Year-Old Son Murderer Sentenced to 21 Years in Prison on Appeal

"Sentence Not Judged Excessive"

Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Su-wan] A man in his 20s who strangled to death the two-year-old son of his live-in girlfriend was sentenced to 21 years in prison again in the appellate court.

On the 9th, the 1st Criminal Division of the Suwon High Court (Chief Judge Noh Kyung-pil) dismissed the appeal and sentenced A (23), who was charged with murder, special confinement, and assault, to the same prison term as the original trial.

The appellate court stated the reason for sentencing, saying, "Even considering all favorable circumstances, such as A reaching a settlement with the victim's side, it is not judged that the sentence A received in the first trial is excessively harsh enough to overturn. Since there are no circumstances to change the appeal filed by the prosecution, both appeals are dismissed."

Previously, the first trial court ruled, "Crimes that infringe on human life cannot be tolerated for any reason. The pain the two-year-old child, who had no ability to resist, must have endured at the end is hard to imagine, and especially B is expected to live with mental shock and aftereffects, so a sentence of 21 years in prison is imposed."

Accordingly, A filed an appeal claiming the sentence was too heavy, while the prosecution appealed on the grounds that the sentence for A was too light.

A was charged with confining and assaulting his girlfriend B and strangling her son to death at his home in Siheung-si, Gyeonggi Province, in March last year.

It was investigated that A, who had been dating B, who divorced her ex-husband, since August 2018, became enraged when B's two-year-old son said, "Mom is mine. Not Uncle (A)'s," and repeatedly hit the child's face and body with his fists.

Also, A kicked B, who tried to escape with her son, knocking her down, took the son away, threw him, and assaulted him, eventually strangling him to death.