30s Man Attempts to Kill Lawyer Father to Erase Debt... 2nd Trial Also Sentences Him to 8 Years in Prison

Seoul High Court / Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] A man in his 30s who attempted to kill his father after borrowing 11.1 billion won under his lawyer father's name and failing to repay the debt was sentenced to prison again in the appellate court.

On the 26th, according to the legal community, the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 6-2 (Presiding Judge Jongchongryeong) sentenced Oh Mo (34), who was indicted on charges of attempted parricide and fraud under the Special Act on Aggravated Punishment, to eight years in prison, the same as the first trial. The court stated, "The act of attempting to take the life of the father is highly condemnable, and the victims of the fraud want the defendant to be punished," but also noted, "Since part of the embezzled amount has been used for repayment, the remaining damage is estimated to be about 1.6 billion won, and the attempted parricide was unsuccessful, with the victim (father) not wanting the defendant to be punished."

Earlier, Oh was brought to trial for attempting to kill his father with a blunt weapon inside the car he was driving on June 22 of last year. On the day of the incident, he struck the back of his father's head, who was sitting in the passenger seat, with a blunt weapon he had prepared in advance, but only caused bleeding and failed to kill him. At that time, the father thought he had hit his head on something and moved to the hospital with Oh.

In the hospital parking lot, Oh struck his father's head several times again with the blunt weapon, but the attempt failed once more due to the father's resistance. After repeated failures, Oh tried to disguise the murder as a traffic accident by taking his father onto the highway again, but when his father said, "I won't report this, please let me get off," Oh let him off nearby and fled.

It was revealed that Oh had borrowed money from acquaintances using forged promissory notes under his father's law office's name and spent it on entertainment, accumulating debts of 4 billion won. When he could not repay, he attempted to solve the situation by killing his father, who was the debtor. On the day of the crime, Oh searched on his phone for terms like "occipital blow" and "how to kill with a bat," prepared the blunt weapon in advance, drove the car, and deliberately placed his father in the passenger seat, showing premeditation.

The prosecution applied charges including fraud under the Special Act on Aggravated Punishment, believing that Oh, who worked as an employee at his father's law office, deceived acquaintances and obtained a total of 11.1 billion won. From August 2018 to June 2020, Oh forged 98 promissory notes, presented them, or deceived acquaintances by saying, "If you lend me the client's retainer and settlement money, I will repay it with interest within three weeks," and collected over 11.1 billion won.

The first trial court recognized all of Oh's charges as guilty and sentenced him to eight years in prison in June. At the time of the first trial verdict, the father also stated, "I do not want my son to be punished." Oh's younger sibling submitted a petition to the court requesting leniency.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.