20-Month-Old Girlfriend's Daughter Sexually Assaulted and Murdered... Perpetrator Sentenced to Life Imprisonment in Second Trial

Co-habiting Woman's Body Left in Icebox After Death

A man in his 30s who sexually assaulted and killed his 20-month-old cohabiting girlfriend's daughter was sentenced to life imprisonment in the appellate court.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Woo-seok] A man in his 30s who sexually assaulted and killed his 20-month-old cohabiting girlfriend's daughter was sentenced to life imprisonment in the appellate court. This sentence is harsher than the 30-year prison term given in the first trial.

The Criminal Division 1-1 of the Daejeon High Court (Presiding Judge Jeong Jeong-mi) on the 27th overturned the original sentence of 30 years imprisonment for Yang (30) in the appeal case involving child abuse murder and rape of a minor under 13 years old, and sentenced Yang to life imprisonment.

Additionally, Yang was ordered to complete 200 hours of a child abuse treatment program, be subject to public disclosure of personal information for 10 years, and be restricted from employment in child and youth-related institutions.

However, the original decision from the first trial to attach an electronic monitoring device (electronic anklet) for 20 years was upheld, and the prosecution's request for chemical castration as treatment for sexual impulses was dismissed again, as in the first trial.

Yang, heavily intoxicated in the early morning of June 15 last year, repeatedly beat his cohabiting girlfriend Jeong's (26) daughter dozens of times with fists and feet, resulting in her death. It is known that he and Jeong hid the body in an icebox in the home bathroom and continued their daily lives. Investigations also revealed that he sexually assaulted the child before killing her.

Yang scored 26 points on the PCL-R (Psychopathy CheckList Revised), indicating psychopathic tendencies.

Jeong, Yang’s cohabiting girlfriend and the victim’s biological mother, was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison in the first trial for charges including concealment of a corpse, but received a harsher sentence of 3 years imprisonment in the second trial. She was also ordered to complete 40 hours of a child abuse treatment program and was restricted from employment in child and youth-related institutions for 5 years.

The court stated the sentencing rationale, saying, "The 20-month-old victim, who followed the defendant as if he were her father, was brutally beaten and sexually assaulted to death. Considering the cruelty that mercilessly trampled on human dignity, it is appropriate to permanently isolate the defendant from society."