Man Sentenced to 4 Years for Assaulting Girlfriend on Stairs, Causing Death, Over Clothes Dragged on Floor...

Court Sentences 4 Years Imprisonment... "Recognizes Causality Between Assault and Death"

[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] A man who repeatedly assaulted his girlfriend's face and caused her to fall down the stairs, resulting in her death, was sentenced to four years in prison.

The Chuncheon District Court Criminal Division 2 (Chief Judge Jin Won-du) announced on the 13th that A (30), who was charged with assault leading to death, was sentenced accordingly.

Earlier, on April 10th at around 2:05 a.m., A assaulted his girlfriend B (28) in front of the entrance door of an apartment in Chuncheon City where B resided, grabbing her hair and repeatedly hitting her face and body. Eventually, B fell and hit the floor at the bottom of the stairs and died, leading to A being prosecuted.

It was investigated that A committed the crime during a dispute with B over dragging clothes he had lent her on the floor, which escalated into a physical fight.

At the trial, A admitted to the quarrel but denied the crime, claiming that the fight had calmed down when B fell down the stairs and that he did not assault her to cause the fall.

The court judged that the cause of B’s fall down the stairs was due to her inability to resist the force of A’s assault, recognizing the causal relationship between the assault and the death. The court also referred to the explanations A gave to the 119 paramedics immediately after the incident and his statements to the police as grounds for the guilty verdict.

The court stated, "Although efforts were made to provide aid, such as calling 119 after the victim fell down the stairs, a serious outcome of death occurred, causing the bereaved family great mental suffering that will be difficult to heal for a lifetime."

It added, "The defendant has a history of assaulting the victim in the past and was previously punished for four violent crimes around 2015," explaining the reasons for sentencing.