Why Did the Supreme Court Acquit Only the Father in the Newborn Abandonment Case?

Only the Mother Sentenced to Six Years in Prison
Appellate Court: "Mother's Changed Testimony Lacks Credibility"

The acquittal of a biological father, who had been accused of causing the death of a ten-day-old baby and abandoning the body in a wooded area, has been finalized. In contrast, the biological mother has been sentenced to six years in prison.

On October 30, the Supreme Court's third division (Presiding Justice Lee Sukyeon) upheld the lower court's ruling that acquitted the father, who was charged with murder and abandonment of a corpse. In December 2023, he had a baby with a colleague with whom he was in an extramarital relationship.

The baby's mother was put on trial for killing the child by placing the baby in a shopping bag upon discharge from the hospital, leaving the bag in the trunk of the father's car for around ten days, and then abandoning the body. The baby's father claimed, "The mother committed the crime secretly," and insisted, "I believed the baby had been put up for adoption through the hospital's arrangements, so I was unaware of the crime."

However, the first trial court stated, "The mother's testimony-that the father also knew the baby was placed in a shopping bag and left in the trunk-was specific and reasonable, and it is difficult to find inconsistencies with the facts." The court also found no grounds to believe the father could have thought adoption was possible, nor any reason to believe he was unaware of the baby's presence in his car for about ten days. The court sentenced him to eight years in prison.

The second trial reached a different conclusion. It found the testimony of the woman, who was both the key witness and the baby's mother, unreliable as decisive evidence for the man's guilt. The appellate court noted that her change in testimony-from claiming she acted alone to implicating the man after his arrest warrant was dismissed-was likely motivated by feelings of abandonment by the man.

The appellate court also found it difficult to rule out the possibility that the baby had already died or was near death at the time of discharge from the hospital. The Supreme Court agreed that there was no error in the appellate court's judgment. Meanwhile, the woman was sentenced to six years in prison in both the first and second trials, and the sentence was finalized by the Supreme Court in January.