Stabbed Fellow Inmate in the Back of the Head with a Ballpoint Pen
Busan District Court Sentences Him to Six Months in Prison
Kim Sanghoon (56), who is currently serving a life sentence at Busan Prison for the 2015 Ansan hostage murder case, has received an additional prison sentence for assaulting a fellow inmate.
According to a report by Yonhap News on July 12, the Busan District Court Criminal Division 5 (Presiding Judge Kim Hyunsun) recently sentenced Kim Sanghoon to six months in prison on charges of causing injury and assault.
He was accused of assaulting a male inmate in his 50s, who was sleeping in the prison ward at Busan Prison at around 9:30 p.m. on September 13 last year, by punching and kicking him and stabbing the back of his head three times with a ballpoint pen. Afterward, he also assaulted another inmate in his 40s, who tried to stop him, using his fists and feet. Kim's assault reportedly only stopped when a prison staff member arrived after hearing the emergency bell.
On January 19, 2015, Kim Sanghoon is getting into a car after completing an on-site verification. Photo by Yonhap News.
It is known that Kim had a poor relationship with the two inmates due to issues related to communal living in the prison ward. He claimed that the two men tried to attack him first, but the court did not accept this argument.
The court pointed out, "The circumstances as explained by the defendant are unnatural and unreasonable, making them difficult to believe as they are," and added, "The defendant assaulted and injured fellow inmates in a prison, where communal living must be maintained under strict discipline. Considering the circumstances, details, and methods of the crime, the seriousness of his guilt cannot be considered minor."
Regarding the sentencing, the court further explained, "As someone serving a life sentence, the defendant is in a position where he should be reflecting seriously, yet he committed another crime without self-restraint, which makes him even more blameworthy." The court also stated, "Even before this incident, he had been criminally punished several times for assaulting or injuring fellow inmates in prison, and it is judged that his violent tendencies have reached a dangerous level."
In January 2015, Kim was sentenced to life imprisonment after he broke into his wife's ex-husband's house in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, stabbed the ex-husband to death with a weapon because his wife was not answering his calls, and killed the second daughter born between his wife and her ex-husband. At the time of the incident, he also took the ex-husband's partner and eldest daughter hostage and confronted the police for 23 hours.
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