The Supreme Court's final judgment on the wife accused of killing her husband by feeding him food and water mixed with nicotine concentrate, aiming to seize his assets and death insurance money, will be announced on the 27th.
The Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice No Jeong-hee) will hold a hearing on the appeal of Ms. A, who was indicted on charges of murder and computer-related fraud and sentenced to 30 years in prison in the second trial, on the morning of the same day.
Ms. A was prosecuted for causing the death of her husband, Mr. B, by feeding him misutgaru (grain powder) drinks, white porridge, and water mixed with nicotine concentrate three times in May 2021. After her husband's death, she is also accused of using her husband's mobile phone to borrow 3 million won to prepare a deposit for a house to live with her lover.
Ms. A met Mr. B, who ran a Japanese restaurant in Suwon in 2008, married him in May 2010, and gave birth to a son in 2014. From 2015, Ms. A lived with her husband and son in Hwaseong. She began dating Mr. C, whom she met at a volunteer group meeting in 2018, and maintained an extramarital relationship with him until the time of the incident.
From around 2020, Ms. A allowed Mr. C to stay and live at the workshop she operated, and they traveled to Japan together three times. After the incident surfaced, forensic analysis of Ms. A's phone revealed that from May 9, 2019, to August 2, 2021, they exchanged an average of 194 KakaoTalk messages per day. About two months before Mr. B's death, around March 14, 2021, he learned of his wife's affair with Mr. C and sent messages implying suicide to attract his wife's attention, causing a suicide scare, but Ms. A did not end the affair.
According to the prosecution, Ms. A, who usually smoked electronic cigarettes, made payments totaling 407,000 won five times at a tobacco product store between August 2020 and May 2021. During the investigation, the store owner testified that Ms. A initially purchased liquid nicotine in plastic containers but later mainly bought AP nicotine products in boxes. The owner also stated that at Ms. A's request, although illegal, about five drops of pure nicotine concentrate were added.
Nicotine solution used in electronic cigarettes is made by diluting nicotine concentrate, which is a highly toxic substance. Commercially available liquid nicotine contains nicotine content of 2% (20mg/ml) or less, and conventional cigarettes typically contain 1.6?2% (16?20mg/ml) nicotine. However, nicotine concentrate distributed illegally through the internet and other channels has a purity of over 99%, containing 990mg/ml of nicotine.
On the morning of May 26, 2021, Ms. A fed Mr. B, who was about to go to work, a drink made of misutgaru mixed with honey and milk, and a hamburger. When Mr. B called from work complaining of stomach pain, Ms. A reassured him by saying, "The honey's expiration date was until 2016. Sorry," implying that the stomachache was caused by spoiled honey, even though she knew the honey in the misutgaru was not spoiled.
The prosecution believes that Ms. A poisoned Mr. B by mixing nicotine concentrate into the misutgaru drink, but when Mr. B only showed symptoms of heartburn and did not die, she made white porridge with nicotine concentrate for Mr. B, who refused to eat due to stomach discomfort that evening. When Mr. B still did not die, Ms. A gave him cold water mixed with a large amount of nicotine concentrate between 1:30 and 2:00 a.m. on May 27, 2021, resulting in his death, leading to her indictment.
The National Forensic Service determined the cause of Mr. B's death as acute nicotine poisoning. The autopsy revealed a large amount of nicotine in Mr. B's stomach contents, and his blood nicotine level was confirmed to be at a lethal concentration. The National Forensic Service estimated the time of death to be between 2:30 and 3:30 a.m. on May 27, 2021.
The first trial court found most of the prosecution's charges to be true and sentenced Ms. A to 30 years in prison.
The court judged that Ms. A likely considered her husband Mr. B, who even staged a suicide scare to interfere with her extramarital relationship with Mr. C, as an obstacle. Considering the financially difficult situation, the court recognized sufficient motive for economic gain, such as Mr. B's assets and death insurance money. The court also concluded that the large amount of nicotine found in Mr. B's body, who had quit smoking after their son was born, was unlikely to have come from any source other than oral ingestion of nicotine.
Ms. A denied the charges during the trial and suggested the possibility that Mr. B took his own life, but this was not accepted.
The court concluded, "It is reasonable to find that the food given to the victim by the defendant on three occasions contained nicotine, and that the victim died due to nicotine in the cold water last given by the defendant."
Regarding sentencing, the court pointed out: ▲ Ms. A maintained an extramarital relationship despite having a spouse and planned to kill her husband by feeding him food containing nicotine concentrate to obtain death insurance money and other benefits, then fraudulently borrowed money under her deceased husband's name, which shows extremely poor criminal nature and high blameworthiness; ▲ The deceased husband lived diligently to support his family by repaying Ms. A's loan debts or working part-time, but Ms. A's planned crime caused him to leave behind their beloved young son; ▲ Mr. B's father, who lost his son at the hands of a former family member, Ms. A, suffered an irreparable wound; ▲ Above all, the shock and pain the young son will face in his growth process after losing his father due to his mother's crime are unimaginable. Considering these circumstances comprehensively, the court stated, "It is appropriate for the defendant to live in sincere repentance and atonement while being isolated from society for a long time."
The second trial court acquitted Ms. A of the charges related to feeding misutgaru drinks and white porridge containing nicotine concentrate, overturning the first trial's ruling, but upheld the first trial's guilty verdict on the charge of killing by feeding cold water mixed with nicotine concentrate and sentenced her to 30 years in prison, the same as the first trial.
Regarding sentencing, the second trial court reiterated the sentencing reasons pointed out by the first trial court and stated, "Nevertheless, the defendant has consistently denied the murder charge up to this appeal. Considering these circumstances comprehensively, it is appropriate to impose a heavy sentence on the defendant."
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