20s Woman Who Killed Cohabitant After 'Gaslighting' Abuse Receives Reduced Sentence in Appeal Trial

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] A woman in her 20s who repeatedly subjected her cohabiting boyfriend to so-called 'gaslighting' abuse and ultimately caused his death had her sentence reduced in the appellate court.

The woman, who psychologically dominated her boyfriend and abused him by beating him with a blunt object before killing him, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in the first trial, but the appellate court did not recognize the charge of special injury and reduced the sentence to 10 years.

According to the Busan District Court on the 24th, A, a 24-year-old woman attending a university in Busan at the time, started dating B, a man in his 20s whom she met at a campus club meeting, from May 2020.

They then lived together in A’s officetel from June 2020.

From October to November 2020, A frequently beat B’s entire body with blunt objects such as a baseball bat. She even damaged B’s skin multiple times with a sharp weapon.

B, who was seriously injured, accidentally spilled feces on the bathroom floor while using the toilet around 11 p.m. on November 10, 2020. Angered by this, A struck B’s head and other parts with a blunt object, and B ultimately died on the spot.

In court, A claimed that B was a ‘masochist’ who usually enjoyed submissive sexual acts and abuse. She argued that most of the wounds on his body were self-inflicted by B, and that at the time of death, they were merely engaged in blood-related and sadomasochistic sexual acts without intent to kill.

The first trial court stated, “B appeared to be anxious, withdrawn, and mentally dependent in order to satisfy A’s demands,” and “considering the period, method, and outcome of the crime, the nature of the offense is extremely serious,” sentencing her to 25 years in prison.

Both the defendant and the prosecution appealed, claiming the sentence was unfair.

The Busan High Court Criminal Division 2 (Chief Judge Oh Hyun-gyu), which handled the appeal, overturned the original ruling and reduced A’s sentence by 10 years, sentencing her to 15 years in prison.

This was because it was legally difficult to recognize the special injury charge among the special injury and murder charges acknowledged in the first trial.

The appellate court explained, “Once the intent to kill has been established, a series of injury acts are comprehensively evaluated as absorbed into the subsequent murder act,” and “based on the submitted evidence alone, it is impossible to distinguish injury acts before and after the establishment of intent to kill, so the crime in that part was not proven.”

The appellate court’s ruling was finalized without going to the Supreme Court as the appeal was dismissed.