Two Main Perpetrators Sentenced to 30 and 20 Years in Prison, Two Accomplices to 5 and 2 Years
Judges State "Severe Punishment Inevitable as Victims' Families Continue to Suffer, Including Stroke Diagnoses"
[Asia Economy Reporter Bang Je-il] Four individuals?two men and two women?were sentenced according to the prison terms requested by the prosecution after being indicted and detained on charges of assaulting and murdering a man in his 20s with intellectual disabilities and secretly burying his body.
The prosecution sought 30 years imprisonment for Mr. A, 20 years for Mr. B, 5 years for Ms. C, and 2 years for Ms. D.
On the 30th, the Criminal Division 1 of the Bucheon Branch of Incheon District Court (Presiding Judge Eom Cheol) sentenced Mr. A to 30 years and Mr. B to 20 years in prison on charges of murder and corpse abandonment. Mr. A was also ordered to wear an electronic location tracking device for 20 years.
Additionally, Ms. C was sentenced to 5 years for aiding and abetting murder and corpse abandonment, and Ms. D, charged only with corpse abandonment, was sentenced to 2 years.
The court stated, "The defendants conspired to kill the victim or aided and abetted the murder and abandoned the body, resulting in very serious consequences. The victim had a level 2 intellectual disability, making him vulnerable to crime, and the defendants exploited this vulnerability, which reflects the grave nature of their offenses."
It continued, "The defendants subjected the victim to continuous abuse through physical assault and burns, causing significant pain. When the police received a report of assault in October last year, the defendants could have stopped their actions but instead deliberately concealed and hid the crime scene. Even after the murder, they showed no remorse and abandoned the body in a mountain, preventing its discovery for four months."
The court added, "The defendants failed to reach a settlement with the victim’s family, and the bereaved suffered ongoing harm, including a stroke diagnosis, making strict punishment unavoidable. Notably, Mr. A, who has experience in martial arts training, played a central and leading role in the crime and committed the offense during a probation period for a special theft conviction," explaining the sentencing rationale.
It was established that Mr. E lived with Mr. A and others from September last year and was continuously assaulted for about three months. Despite his condition deteriorating to the point where he could not control his bladder or recognize people, he was neglected and ultimately died.
Mr. A and others killed the victim, Mr. E, by beating him with fists and feet, accusing him of lying. They left Mr. E’s body in one of several rooms they shared for 2 to 4 days. The villa where they lived was initially shared by Mr. A and Ms. C, and later three people including the victim Mr. E moved in and lived there.
When Mr. E’s body began to decompose and emit odor, on December 22 last year, they rented a car, placed the body in the trunk, and secretly buried it in Seungmasan Mountain in Gimpo. The body was discovered on April 20 at 12:15 p.m. by a local resident gathering wild greens in a mountain area of Yakam-ri, Daegot-myeon, Gimpo City, who reported it to the police. At the time of discovery, the body had decomposed for about four months, with the skull reduced to bare bone.
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