"Pleading 'Save Me'... Biological Father Sentenced to 30 Years for Killing Two Teenage Children"

Court: "Minor children vulnerable to crime, premeditated offense"

A biological father who killed his two teenage children after their desperate pleas for help and then attempted an extreme act was sentenced to 30 years in prison by the court.

On the 14th, the Criminal Division 4 of Changwon District Court (Chief Judge Jang Yujin) sentenced A (56), a man in his 50s, to 30 years in prison on charges including murder. A was indicted for allegedly giving sleeping pills to his high school daughter B (17) and middle school son C (16) and suffocating them to death on August 28 in a mountain area in Gimhae, Gyeongnam.

At the time, A applied for a field trip at his children’s school, then traveled together to Namhae in Gyeongnam and Busan before going to the mountain in Gimhae where his father’s grave is located, and committed the crime there.

According to the prosecution’s charges, A had been preparing for the murder in a planned manner by purchasing sleeping pills, cargo straps, and gas cylinders starting a month before the crime. Just before the crime, he canceled savings accounts under his children’s names, booked a luxury resort in Busan and other places, and went on a family trip, then killed them with the tools he had prepared on the way home.

In particular, right after the family trip, C said to A, "Father, thank you so much for coming on the trip with me. I will repay you when I grow up." When A committed the crime, C woke up and pleaded for about 14 minutes, saying, "Father, please save me," but was ultimately killed. This was fully recorded on A’s car black box.

A attempted an extreme act after the crime but was discovered by the police, resulting in a failed attempt.

During the police investigation, A claimed, "After divorcing over 10 years ago, I lived with my mother and had conflicts. I was worried that if I died alone, the remaining children would be abused by my mother."

Earlier, at the sentencing hearing on the 7th of last month, the prosecution requested the death penalty, stating that A had planned the crime for a month and showed no remorse, only making excuses after the crime.

The court stated the sentencing reasons, saying, "A said he committed the crime due to conflicts with his mother and despair about his situation. However, such circumstances cannot justify violating the lives of his children," and added, "Considering that the crime was planned and that all victims were minors who were vulnerable to the crime."

Meanwhile, as incidents of ‘filicide’?parents killing their children and then attempting extreme acts?continue, there are concerns that the current law lacks aggravated punishment provisions for filicide.

Under current criminal law, killing a parent (‘parricide’) is punishable by death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment of seven years or more as an aggravated punishment. However, killing a child (‘filicide’) has no aggravated punishment provision and is subject to general murder charges punishable by death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment of five years or more.

Five bills proposing amendments to the criminal law to establish a filicide offense and impose aggravated punishment equivalent to parricide have been submitted to the National Assembly, but discussions have stalled.