The 40-Year Father-Son Bond Severed... An 80-Year-Old Dementia Patient Kills Son Raised Like His Own Child

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] An elderly man in his 80s suffering from dementia resented his son for restricting his living places to a care facility and home out of fear that he might get lost.

One day, angry as usual, the elderly man killed his sleeping son while returning home from the care facility. (Reported in the October 8 online edition)

The son killed by the dementia patient was known to be his adopted son whom he had raised like his own child for 40 years.

The elderly man was sentenced to prison for killing his adopted son whom he had raised since infancy for 40 years.

The elderly man committed the crime out of dissatisfaction because his son limited his outings by having him stay at a senior care center during the day as his dementia symptoms caused him to frequently get lost.

The Daegu District Court Criminal Division 11 (Chief Judge Lee Sang-oh) sentenced A (81), who was charged with killing his adopted son (murder), to 2 years and 6 months in prison and ordered him to receive medical treatment and 5 years of probation.

A was tried for stabbing and killing his son (41), who was sleeping at their residence in Dong-gu, Daegu, around 2 a.m. on April 2, while in a state of diminished capacity to distinguish objects or make decisions due to dementia.

He was also charged with injury for violently beating his wife (73), who woke up, witnessed the crime, and tried to report it.

A brought his son, who was an infant around 1980, and registered him as his biological child, living together since then.

However, as A developed dementia, the father-son relationship began to deteriorate.

As A frequently got lost after going out and was found at nearby police stations, the son restricted his father’s outings.

The son locked the entrance door from the inside so that his father could not open it when the family went out and left him alone at home, or had him stay at the senior care center during the day.

A expressed dissatisfaction with his son, telling the care center staff who restricted his ‘freedom,’ “I want to kill my sleeping son and leave the house.”

The day before the crime, A refused to return home from the care center, but his son forcibly brought him back, and that night ended their 40-year father-son relationship.