"If You Can't Kill Me, I'll Kill You"... 80s Father Sentenced to Prison Again in Appeal for Killing Abusive Son

Seoul High Court Sentences Man to Three Years and Six Months in Prison
Son Abused Family for Over a Decade Due to Alcohol

An elderly man in his 80s, who killed his son in his 50s after suffering from years of domestic violence, has been sentenced to prison in both the first and second trials.

According to Yonhap News on the 27th, the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 4-3 (Presiding Judges Hwang Jingu, Ji Youngnan, and Kwon Hyukjung) sentenced the man, identified as A, to three years and six months in prison for murder, the same sentence as in the first trial.

A was charged with strangling his son, B, to death at their home in Seoul on September 17 last year, which was the day of Chuseok. At the time, B, who was intoxicated, shouted and cursed at A, prompting A to threaten, "I will kill you." In response, B retorted, "Go ahead and kill me. If you can't kill me, I'll kill you." Enraged by these words, A committed the crime.

After his divorce, B had lived with his parents for a long time and had reportedly been punished several times for various offenses due to excessive drinking. For about 10 years before the incident, whenever he drank, he would shout at his parents, verbally abuse them, curse, and damage property.

On January 1, the first trial court sentenced A to three years and six months in prison, and both A and the prosecution appealed, claiming the sentence was unjust.

The appellate court stated, "Considering the circumstances and method of the crime, the intent, and the irreversible result of the victim's death, a heavy punishment is unavoidable."

However, the court also noted, "As the victim's alcohol dependence and domestic violence worsened, the defendant tried to find solutions, such as looking into protective hospitalization and seeking police counseling, but was unable to find a clear resolution." The court further considered as favorable circumstances that A turned himself in by calling 112 immediately after the crime, that he is elderly, and that the family appealed for leniency by describing the suffering they endured because of B. Therefore, the court upheld the original sentence, explaining, "Based on the evidence and records lawfully adopted and examined by the first trial, the sentence cannot be considered unjustly light or heavy."