Subscribed to 30 Insurance Policies... Received Over 11 Million Won in Insurance Money Due to Child's Injury
A couple who deliberately injured their child to claim insurance money was sentenced to prison again in the appellate court. [Image source=Yonhap News]
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Seohyun] A couple in their 40s who deliberately injured their teenage child’s body to claim insurance money was sentenced to prison in the appellate court, following the first trial.
The Jeonju District Court’s 1st Criminal Division (Chief Judge Kang Dongwon) on the 24th sentenced Mr. A (40, male) and Ms. B (41, female), who were indicted on charges including special injury and violation of the Special Act on the Prevention of Insurance Fraud, to six years and four years in prison respectively, the same as the original sentence. They were also ordered to complete 100 hours of a child abuse treatment program, which was maintained from the first trial.
According to the court, Mr. A and Ms. B, who registered their marriage in 2014, had seven children. Three of them, including child C, were from Ms. B’s previous marriage, and four were born after marrying Mr. A.
The couple was indicted for causing injuries to their children’s bodies eight times from November 20, 2019, to July 21 of last year, and claiming about 11 million won in insurance money from insurance companies.
Without steady jobs and suffering financial difficulties, the couple planned insurance fraud and, from 2016 to 2019, insured themselves and their children under more than 30 insurance policies.
Two years after subscribing to the insurance, in June 2018, Mr. A first inflicted burns on his left arm and received treatment. He then claimed insurance money on the grounds that he had burned his left arm while using a heated frying pan to make fried food for the children. Using this method, he received a total of 61 payments amounting to 67.33 million won.
Extending their harm to the children, in November 2019, Ms. B told child C (then 16 years old), “Don’t go to school because you did something wrong,” and kept him at home. Afterwards, Ms. B held both of C’s hands to immobilize him, while her husband Mr. A slashed the front of C’s shin about three times with a weapon. They then lied that “the child was cut by broken glass while sorting recyclables at a trash site” to claim insurance money, according to the investigation.
The first trial court stated, “The defendants inflicted injuries on their minor children with dangerous objects to gain financial benefits, causing mental and physical abuse. They also showed no remorse, falsely accusing the victims of lying, making severe punishment inevitable,” sentencing Mr. A to six years and Ms. B to four years in prison.
Both the defendants and the prosecution appealed, citing reasons such as unfair sentencing.
However, the appellate court ruled, “Despite their young age, the defendants inflicted injuries on their children by stabbing their flesh or causing burns with a heated frying pan to fraudulently obtain insurance money, which is a very serious crime. Such atrocious acts causing bodily harm to their children and defrauding insurance money are incomprehensible no matter how you look at it.”
It added, “The sentence from the first trial does not seem excessively harsh or lenient, so the original sentence is maintained,” explaining the reasoning behind the sentencing.
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