After Cryptocurrency Investment Failure and COVID-19 Hardship... 20-Year-Old Father Who Killed 3-Year-Old Daughter Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison

Court: "Crime committed based on one-sided judgment that child's life, not property, would be unhappy"

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[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] A man in his 20s who, struggling with financial difficulties due to COVID-19, killed his three-year-old daughter and attempted an extreme act was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

On the 21st, the Criminal Division 13 of Suwon District Court (Chief Judge Lee Gyu-young) announced that it sentenced A (28), who was indicted on charges of murder, to 13 years in prison and two years of probation.

A was charged with stabbing his sleeping daughter B multiple times with a weapon at his home in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, around 4 p.m. on August 15.

After the crime, A attempted an extreme act but survived after undergoing surgery to remove part of his lung.

Previously, after B was born in August 2018, A faced financial difficulties due to a 40 million won debt from failed cryptocurrency investments and received a rehabilitation commencement decision. He then divorced his wife in August last year and raised B with the help of his mother.

However, as COVID-19 spread this year, unpaid leave increased at the company where A worked, reducing his salary, and he reportedly suffered from financial hardship.

Accordingly, A decided to kill his daughter and take an extreme action himself, and on the day of the incident, taking advantage of his mother’s absence, he committed the crime with a weapon inside the house.

The court explained, "The defendant, based on a one-sided judgment that his child's life would be unhappy, regarded the young victim, who was innocent, as his property and killed her," adding, "The victim, only three years old, was stabbed multiple times with a weapon, and the pain she endured is unimaginable."

However, the court stated the sentencing reasons, "We considered favorable circumstances such as his confession and remorse, the fact that he had been raising the child alone since around 2018 and committed the crime in a state of impaired judgment due to financial hardship, and that he is expected to live the rest of his life with guilt and regret."

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