Court: "The crime was brutal and the nature of the offense extremely serious"
A 70-year-old Chinese-Korean man who murdered a sanitation worker in an underground passage near Sungnyemun in Seoul has been sentenced to 25 years in prison, with the sentence now finalized.
According to the legal community on October 1, the Supreme Court's Second Division (Presiding Justice Oh Kyungmi) finalized the lower court's ruling on September 4, sentencing Mr. Li, who was indicted on charges including murder, to 25 years in prison. Mr. Li was also ordered to wear an electronic location-tracking device for 20 years.
Mr. Li was brought to trial for stabbing and killing a sanitation worker in his 60s, employed by a contractor in Jung-gu, multiple times with a weapon at around 4 a.m. on August 2 of last year in an underground passage near Sungnyemun. The investigation revealed that Mr. Li attacked the victim with a weapon he habitually carried after feeling slighted when the victim refused his request for water and said he would report Mr. Li for grabbing his arm.
In the first trial in February, the court sentenced Mr. Li to 25 years in prison and ordered him to wear an electronic location-tracking device for 20 years. The court explained that "the motive and brutality of the crime indicate a very serious offense," and that the sentence was determined by considering the bereaved family's plea for severe punishment, Mr. Li's age, character, and the circumstances of the trial.
In the appellate trial in June, the court also dismissed the appeals of both the prosecution and Mr. Li, stating, "Although the defendant denied intent to murder in the first trial but admitted all charges in this court, such a change in attitude does not constitute a significant change in circumstances that would warrant altering the original sentence." Mr. Li appealed again, but the Supreme Court found no fault in the lower court's ruling and dismissed the appeal.
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