Owing to Senior and Junior of 10 Years
Suspected of Killing with Blunt Object After Spiking Alcohol with Sleeping Pills
Victim's Body Dumped with Barbell Attached to Leg
[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Gyumin] Mr. Oh (40) had known Mr. A as a senior-junior colleague for 10 years. However, when Mr. Oh became indebted to Mr. A for tens of millions of won, he committed a ‘horrific’ act.
According to the police, on the 7th, Mr. Oh put sleeping pills into the glass of alcohol Mr. A was drinking. After Mr. A fell asleep, he put him in a car and moved to the Ara Waterway in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province. It is known that he tied a 10kg barbell plate to Mr. A’s leg and killed him with a blunt weapon. Afterwards, he disposed of the body.
Mr. A’s family reported him missing to the police around 9 a.m. the next day when he did not return. The Seoul Seodaemun Police Station, which took over the case, confirmed signs of homicide during the missing person investigation and launched an investigation. During this process, the police found Mr. A’s body at around 11:40 a.m. on the 9th.
Based on closed-circuit television (CCTV), the police identified Mr. Oh as the suspect, and he fled to Geoje City, Gyeongnam Province. He was caught by the police at around 2:30 a.m. on the 11th.
During the police investigation, Mr. Oh reportedly confessed to the method of the crime, saying, “I put sleeping pills in the glass the victim was drinking from.”
The police are continuing to investigate the crime process and motive, and on the 12th, they applied for an arrest warrant for Mr. Oh on charges of murder. Eventually, Judge Kim Yumi, in charge of warrants at the Seoul Western District Court, issued the arrest warrant the next day, citing the possibility of evidence destruction and flight risk.
Recently, there have been many cases where conflicts over debt relations have escalated to murder. On July 25, the Criminal Division 12 of the Seoul Western District Court (Chief Judge Andongbeom) sentenced Mr. Jang (55) to 30 years in prison for stabbing and killing an executive of a construction company in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, due to a debt dispute.
Mr. Jang is accused of stabbing a man in his 40s, Mr. B, about 26 times with a prepared weapon on the stairs of the office of the company operated by Mr. B in February after demanding a settlement payment related to a building eviction lawsuit and being refused. Mr. Jang had a dispute with Mr. B over a lien and claimed he was “mocked and provoked,” even requesting a jury trial to clear his ‘grievance.’
However, the jury and the court sided with the prosecution. At that time, Chief Judge Ahn said, “Even if we consider Mr. Jang’s claim that he went to meet the victim because he could not get his money back or that the victim choked him after seeing the weapon, it is difficult to accept these as favorable circumstances,” adding, “He is judged not to show a sincere attitude of remorse.” He sentenced Mr. Jang to 30 years in prison and ordered him to wear an electronic monitoring device (electronic anklet) for 10 years and complete 120 hours of a specific crime treatment program.
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