Prison Sentence for Police in Appeal Trial for Using Someone Else's Personal Information
Following First Trial
A man in his 60s who stabbed a neighbor with a weapon after a dispute was sentenced to prison in the appellate court, following the first trial. The Seoul High Court Criminal Division 7 (Presiding Judges Lee Gyu-hong, Lee Ji-young, Kim Seul-gi) sentenced A (62), who was charged with attempted murder and forgery of official documents, to five years in prison, the same as the original sentence.
A is a resident of a shared housing complex in Seoul. In May of last year, he scolded his neighbor B, who is in his 50s, saying, "Why don’t you work at your young age and just stay at home?" As the argument continued, an upset B slapped A’s cheek, and enraged A took a weapon he kept at home and stabbed B twice. It was reported that the two then wrestled on the floor.
A, who was caught in the act, is also accused of giving another person’s resident registration number to police officers who requested identification and writing someone else’s name on related documents. At trial, A denied the charges, claiming he had no intent to kill.
However, both the first and second trial courts found that A at least had a conditional awareness of the possibility of B’s death, based on statements he made immediately after the crime to the police, such as "That rude bastard should disappear," and during the investigation, when he expressed, "I was so angry that I thought it wouldn’t matter if he died."
The court explained the sentencing by stating, "The guilt is by no means light, considering that he even forged documents and signatures submitted to public institutions to conceal his identity."
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