[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] A man in his 50s who stabbed a friend he had known for nearly 30 years because the friend was bothering him was sentenced to prison.
The Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Lee Dong-won) announced on the 31st that it dismissed the appeal of Yang Mo (56), who was charged with attempted murder and violations of the Narcotics Control Act (psychotropic substances and marijuana), and upheld the original sentence of 5 years in prison.
The court stated, "There is no error in the lower court's judgment that violates the rules of logic and experience or exceeds the limits of free evaluation of evidence, nor is there a misinterpretation of the law regarding the intent of murder."
Yang, who had been friends with the victim A for about 30 years, had been dissatisfied since 2019 because A frequently called him like a stalker and annoyed him.
On December 12, 2020, despite Yang saying, "If you come, I will kill you," A, intoxicated, kept calling and insisted on meeting, saying he would come from Cheonan, Chungnam Province, where he lived, to Seoul. Around 1 a.m. the next day, A came near Yang's house in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, and kept calling to meet. Yang said, "If I see you in front of my eyes, I will kill you, so just go away."
However, when A responded with "Try to kill me" and cursed, Yang stabbed A in the chest with a knife he had prepared in advance as soon as he saw A sitting at a small table in front of a convenience store near his house drinking alcohol around 2 a.m. that same day.
Thanks to the intervention of a convenience store employee, A did not die but suffered a right ventricular heart injury and a chest laceration (2 cm in length) that required about 8 weeks of treatment.
The prosecution charged Yang with attempted murder, believing he had the intent to kill.
Yang, who had already been sentenced to 3 years in prison in 2017 for drug-related charges and completed his sentence, was also indicted on other drug charges, which were consolidated for trial.
In court, Yang claimed, "I only hit A with a plastic toy knife and never stabbed him with a real knife."
However, the first trial court rejected this claim, stating that A was wearing a very thick winter parka at the time of the incident, and it was impossible for a plastic toy knife to penetrate A's parka and cause chest lacerations and heart damage.
Although Yang had a prior drug conviction, resulting in both recidivism and multiple offense aggravations, the first trial court considered favorable factors such as the victim A not wanting Yang to be criminally punished and A not dying, and sentenced Yang to 7 years in prison.
The second trial court accepted Yang's claim of unfair sentencing, citing that Yang admitted and reflected on all crimes except the attempted murder, fortunately the murder attempt was unsuccessful, A did not suffer serious aftereffects, and A did not want Yang to be punished and pleaded for leniency, reducing the sentence to 5 years in prison.
The Supreme Court confirmed the original sentence of 5 years in prison, deeming it appropriate.
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