Admitted Charges in First Trial
Assault Using Any Available Tools
Accomplices who were indicted along with the biological mother for abusing a one-year-old infant to death admitted to the charges at their first trial.
At the first pretrial hearing held on the 21st at the Daejeon District Court Criminal Division 11 (Presiding Judge Choi Seok-jin), the defense attorneys of A (29) and B (26, female), who were indicted on charges of child abuse resulting in death, stated, "There are some differences from the indictment regarding the assault tools and the body parts struck, but we admit most of the charges."
They are accused of bringing C (28) and her child, acquaintances who had suffered domestic violence from her cohabiting partner at the end of August, into their home and living together, during which they abused and assaulted C's baby, causing the child's death.
A saw C disciplining her just-turned one-year-old son and said, "You shouldn't do it like that. I will break his spirit," conspiring to hit the child together. Around September 8, A repeatedly struck the child's soles and head inside her car, and for about a month, they abused the child together with the biological mother.
They used tools such as a tablet PC, metal tongs, a cleaning brush, and a cellphone charger to assault the child for reasons like not sleeping at night or taking long naps during the day.
From the end of September, they brought a wooden shoehorn from a hotel they visited and continuously assaulted the child with it at home. It is reported that they conspired to focus on hitting the child's thighs to avoid being noticed by others.
Also, on October 4, after seeing C hit the child’s face multiple times because the child woke up and was fussy in the early morning, A joined in and assaulted the child. Despite the child showing abnormal symptoms such as irregular breathing and dilated pupils around 2 p.m. that day, they left the child unattended for over an hour. They later took the child to the hospital, but the child ultimately died. The autopsy revealed the cause of death as hypovolemic shock due to trauma.
Although an arrest warrant was initially requested, A was investigated without detention due to an error in the detention location but was arrested in court after the warrant was issued on this day.
The next trial will be combined with the case of the biological mother C, who was previously detained on charges of child abuse resulting in death and is currently undergoing a first trial, and will be held on January 25 next year. C was indicted earlier while in detention and admitted to all charges during the trial.
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