After Killing Wife and Son, Claims "Act of Another Personality"... Sentenced to Life Imprisonment

"Planned Crime with Brutal Method of Offense"

The perpetrator of the so-called 'Gwangmyeong Family Triple Murder Case,' who brutally killed his wife and two sons because he felt ignored, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

On the 12th, the Criminal Division 2 of the Ansan Branch of Suwon District Court (Presiding Judge Nam Cheon-gyu) sentenced A (46) to life imprisonment on charges of murder. The court also ordered the attachment of an electronic tracking device for 30 years.

Claimed Amnesia and Multiple Personalities... "Cruelty of the Crime Method" Cited as Reason for Sentencing

In October 2022, Mr. A, in his 40s, who was charged with the murder of his wife and two teenage sons, is entering the Ansan branch of the Suwon District Court in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, for a pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant review).
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The court stated, "The crime was premeditated, the method of the crime was unusually cruel beyond common imagination, and there is a risk of reoffending and violence."

During the trial, A claimed, "I lost my memory 8 years ago and recently regained it," and "I have three personalities." However, the psychiatric evaluation reportedly showed 'normal findings.'

In response, the court added, "Although the psychiatric evaluation of the defendant did not find characteristics corresponding to pathological mental issues, the defendant has a history of psychiatric treatment, and it is difficult to completely exclude the possibility that such mental issues did not influence the crime." The court further explained the sentencing by saying, "The victim, the wife, died while watching her children being stabbed to death, and after the crime, the defendant tried to shift responsibility onto the victims. The bereaved families have petitioned for the maximum sentence."

Committed a Meticulously Planned Crime

A was arrested and indicted on charges of murder for killing his wife (then 42 years old) and two sons (then 15 and 10 years old) on October 25 last year at around 8:10 p.m. in their apartment in Gwangmyeong-si, Gyeonggi Province. He believed they had been disrespectful and defiant toward him and used a blunt weapon and a knife he had prepared in advance to kill them.

Since quitting his job in 2020, A had no particular occupation, frequently quarreled with his wife, and grew distant from his children, leading to severe family discord. Three weeks before the incident, A became angry when his eldest son went out wearing his slippers without permission and verbally abused him. He then decided to kill his family.

To conceal his crime, A entered the house through a CCTV blind spot just before the killings and murdered his eldest son, wife, and youngest son in sequence. After committing the crime, he watched cartoons at an internet cafe for about two hours before returning home. Then, crying, he called 119 and reported, "I went out and came back to find my family stabbed to death."

At the sentencing hearing held on March 30, A said, "All of this happened because of my fault," and "I will not appeal." The prosecution requested the death penalty, stating, "It is appropriate to impose the maximum sentence to permanently isolate him from society."