"Why Won't You Buy Me a Game Console?" 40-Year-Old Son Destroys Mother's Car and Kills Pet Dog

Sentenced to 6 Months Imprisonment with 1 Year Probation

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] A man in his 40s who killed his mother's pet dog by striking it with a blunt object after being refused a request to buy a game console was sentenced to a suspended prison term.

According to Yonhap News on the 21st, Judge Cha Youngwook of the Chuncheon District Court Criminal Division 3 sentenced A (42), who was charged with special property damage and violation of the Animal Protection Act, to six months in prison with a one-year suspension.

[Photo by Asia Economy DB]

Last September, A was brought to trial for damaging the driver's side window of a passenger car owned by his biological mother B (63) in the yard of a house in Inje-gun, Gangwon Province, causing repair costs of about 730,000 won by striking it with a blunt object. In addition, A struck and killed the pet dog his mother was raising with a blunt object. He committed this crime after his mother B refused his request to buy a game console sold at a convenience store.

Judge Cha pointed out, "Considering the form and danger of the act in which the defendant carried a dangerous object, damaged the victim's property, and cruelly abused an animal causing its death, the nature of the crime is very bad, and the damage has not been restored." He added the reason for sentencing, "Taking into account that the defendant admitted the crime and showed remorse, that the victim expressed a desire not to punish the defendant, and that the defendant has no prior record of similar offenses, the sentence was determined comprehensively."