[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] A former youth national boxing athlete was sentenced to a heavy prison term for assaulting and killing his disabled father, who suffered from alcohol dependence syndrome and brain lesions causing hemiplegia.
The Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice No Tae-ak) on the 25th upheld the 10-year prison sentence handed down by the lower court in the appeal trial of Mr. A, who was charged with killing a direct ascendant.
Mr. A was prosecuted for beating and stepping on his father, Mr. B, at their home in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, in January last year, causing his death. Mr. B died from injuries including ruptured lungs and kidneys, as well as multiple fractures throughout his body.
It was confirmed that Mr. A committed the crime after becoming angry upon seeing his father when he returned home intoxicated. Immediately after the crime, Mr. A called 112 and reported, "My father has died." During the police investigation, he attempted to disguise the crime as an accident by claiming, "My father fell and died."
Since September 2020, after his mother divorced and left the house, Mr. A confined his father, who required care, at home and only provided simple meals such as cup noodles. It was revealed that during the last four months before his death, he never bathed or took his father to the hospital and frequently assaulted him without proper care.
Mr. A had been active as a boxer for about six years, from the first year of middle school to the third year of high school. He participated in numerous competitions, including the National Middle and High School Boxing Championships, winning first place several times, and was selected as a youth national representative in 2016, participating in training.
In the first trial, Mr. A claimed innocence and requested a jury trial. The jury of nine members unanimously found Mr. A guilty. Among them, five jurors recommended a 7-year sentence, two recommended 10 years, one recommended 15 years, and one recommended 16 years.
The first trial court reflected the unanimous verdict of all nine jurors who found all charges guilty and sentenced Mr. A to 10 years in prison. The second trial upheld the first trial's judgment.
The Supreme Court also stated, "There is no error in the lower courts' judgment that recognized the charges as guilty, nor did it violate the rules of logic and experience or exceed the limits of free evaluation of evidence, nor did it misinterpret the law regarding the indirect intent of killing a direct ascendant," affirming the lower courts' decisions as correct.
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