A man in his 30s who stalked his girlfriend after she broke up with him and was reported to the police, and then went to her workplace wielding a weapon in an attempt to kill her, has been sentenced to a heavy prison term.
On the 28th, the Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Oh Seok-jun) upheld the original sentence of 15 years imprisonment for Mr. A, a man in his 30s charged with attempted murder and violation of the Stalking Punishment Act, and ordered him to complete 80 hours of a stalking treatment program and placed under probation for 5 years.
The court explained the reason for dismissing Mr. A’s appeal, stating, "There was no error in the lower court’s judgment by failing to conduct necessary hearings, violating the rules of logic and experience, exceeding the limits of free evaluation of evidence, or misapplying the law regarding diminished mental capacity."
Regarding Mr. A’s appeal on the grounds of excessive sentencing, the court stated, "Considering the various circumstances related to sentencing found in the records, even if the circumstances claimed in the appeal are taken into account, it cannot be said that the lower court’s decision to uphold the first trial’s sentence of 15 years imprisonment is grossly unfair."
Mr. A began dating the victim, Ms. B (30), in July 2020. Around the end of January last year, they started living together at Ms. B’s home, but they broke up on February 17 last year due to Mr. A’s private loans and gambling debts.
A few days later, on February 23 last year, Mr. A went to Ms. B’s house, entered by entering the known door password, and caused a self-harm disturbance while saying, "I have no reason to live without you. I will give you one more chance," for which he was charged with trespassing and special threats.
Even after breaking up with Ms. B, Mr. A visited her house and sent KakaoTalk messages such as "Did you block my phone?" to Ms. B and her sister’s phones, stalking her a total of seven times until February 24 last year.
After Ms. B reported the stalking to the police, Mr. A was summoned for investigation. On March 2 last year, before the police investigation, he went to Ms. B’s workplace carrying a weapon and demanded to meet her again, but Ms. B refused.
On the same day, while undergoing police questioning, Mr. A saw Ms. B contacting the police officers. After the investigation, upon receiving a message from Ms. B’s mother saying, "Do not visit or contact Ms. B anymore," Mr. A became angry and went back to Ms. B’s workplace with a weapon and caused a disturbance.
Mr. A attempted to kill Ms. B with the weapon, but was stopped by Ms. B’s coworkers, resulting only in injuries. During the intervention, a male coworker of Ms. B also sustained a finger injury.
The prosecution charged Mr. A with attempted murder, special injury, violation of the Stalking Punishment Act, trespassing, and special threats, and brought him to trial.
The first trial court sentenced Mr. A to 15 years imprisonment, ordered him to complete 80 hours of a stalking treatment program, and placed him under probation for 5 years. However, the court dismissed the prosecution’s request for an electronic monitoring order.
The reasons were that the risk of reoffending was not high, his criminal record was limited to two fines for violent acts over ten years ago, and the crime was not committed against an unspecified large number of people.
Both Mr. A and the prosecution appealed, but the appellate court dismissed both appeals. Mr. A’s claim of diminished mental capacity due to impulse control disorder was not accepted.
Mr. A filed a final appeal, but the Supreme Court also found no problem with the second trial’s judgment.
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