20-Year-Old Mother Sentenced to 10 Years for Causing Death of 76-Day-Old Daughter Due to Malnutrition

A biological mother who failed to properly care for her 76-day-old daughter, resulting in the infant's death from malnutrition, was sentenced to prison.

On the 21st, the Criminal Division 4 of Changwon District Court in Gyeongnam announced that it sentenced 20-year-old Ms. A, who was tried on charges of child abuse resulting in death, to 10 years in prison.

The court also ordered her to complete 40 hours of recidivism prevention lectures on child abuse and imposed a 10-year employment restriction in child-related institutions.

Changwon District Court, Gyeongnam.
Photo by Se-ryeong Lee

According to the court, unmarried mother Ms. A is accused of leaving Ms. B unattended at her residence in Palyong-dong, Uichang-gu, Changwon City, despite Ms. B showing signs of health problems such as vomiting formula milk for several days, ultimately causing her death.

An autopsy revealed that Ms. B died from sepsis caused by malnutrition, and she did not even have a name as her birth was not registered.

Ms. B’s weight was 2.69 kg at birth in January 2022, but at the time of her death on March 27 last year, it was only about 2.48 kg.

Ms. A reportedly never took Ms. B to a hospital, not even for vaccinations, fearing that her parents would find out about the birth.

It was found that while Ms. B was alive, Ms. A left the house for most of the day, leaving Ms. B alone.

During the trial, Ms. A denied the charges, claiming sudden infant death syndrome and COVID-19 infection, but the court did not accept these claims based on the autopsy report.

The court stated, “Ms. B was neglected without receiving any treatment after birth and died within two months due to malnutrition. Ms. A had experience raising her first child and was fully aware that Ms. B’s health was poor, yet she failed to properly manage and protect Ms. B, leading to her death. This makes her culpability severe and deserving of condemnation.”

It added, “Considering that in cases like this, where a woman gives birth and raises a child alone and then abandons or neglects the child, the biological mother is punished but the biological father faces no punishment, it seems somewhat harsh to place all responsibility for this incident solely on Ms. A.”

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