Statute of Limitations Expired for Concealment of a Corpse
Murder Charge Applied... Total Sentence of 16 Years and 6 Months
A man in his 50s, who was put on trial for murdering a woman he lived with and secretly burying her body, has received a heavy sentence, which has now been finalized.
According to the legal community on October 29, the Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Shin Sookhee) recently upheld the appellate court's decision, confirming a sentence of 16 years and 6 months in prison for the man in his 50s who was indicted on charges including murder.
This man was charged with murdering his live-in girlfriend in October 2008 at a multi-family residence in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province. He concealed the body in the house and disguised it as part of another structure. Investigations revealed that he continued to live in the house for about eight years, until he was arrested on drug charges in 2016.
The crime came to light in August last year when the building owner called in a worker for leak repairs and, during the demolition of a structure on the veranda, the body was discovered. Sixteen years after the crime, he was urgently arrested on charges of murder and concealment of a corpse. However, only the murder charge was applied, as the statute of limitations for concealing a corpse (seven years) had expired.
During the investigation, A was also indicted on charges of purchasing methamphetamine and using it three times in August last year. The first trial found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to 14 years in prison. He was also sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison for the drug charges.
The first-instance court stated, "By murdering the victim and placing the body in a travel bag, then embedding it in cement on the building's rooftop, the defendant made it extremely difficult to uncover the truth," adding, "The gravity of the crime is very severe." Both the prosecution and A appealed the first-instance verdict, claiming the sentence was unjust, but the appellate court dismissed the appeals, stating, "The sentencing does not exceed the reasonable limits of judicial discretion and cannot be considered excessively heavy or light."
The Supreme Court reached the same conclusion. The Supreme Court ruled, "Even taking into account the circumstances raised in the appeal, it cannot be said that the appellate court's decision to uphold the first-instance sentence of a total of 16 years and 6 months in prison is seriously unjust."
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