20-Year-Old Who Killed and Abandoned Pregnant Partner... Pleaded for Leniency but Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison

Court: "Doubtful if truly remorseful"
Upholds original 30-year prison sentence

A man in his 20s who killed and abandoned his pregnant girlfriend was sentenced to a heavy prison term again in the appellate court. Although he submitted a letter of remorse quoting a famous saying by American politician Benjamin Franklin, the court did not accept it, stating, "It is doubtful whether he is truly remorseful."

[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 29th, Yonhap News and others reported that the Suwon High Court Criminal Division 2-2 (Presiding Judge Kim Jong-woo) sentenced Mr. A, who was charged with murder, corpse abandonment, and theft, to 30 years in prison, the same as the original sentence, at the appellate trial. The court also ordered Mr. A to wear an electronic tracking device for 20 years.

Mr. A was charged with strangling his girlfriend B (then 18 years old) to death after an argument inside his parked car on a road in Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province, between 10:47 p.m. and midnight on April 10 last year, and abandoning her body on a side path near a hiking trail in Suwon City. It was reported that Ms. B was pregnant with Mr. A’s child.

After the crime, Mr. A also committed theft by unlocking Ms. B’s phone password and transferring 100,000 won to his own account. He then sent text messages to his family implying he would take his own life and attempted an extreme act at a motel but was rescued by acquaintances.

The first trial court sentenced him to 30 years in prison, considering that "the defendant killed Ms. B despite knowing she was pregnant with his child during their argument, used the victim’s phone to exchange messages with her sister and used her credit card, which shows unfavorable circumstances after the crime, and was not forgiven by the bereaved family."

Mr. A appealed, claiming the sentence was too harsh and unfair, but the appellate court upheld the 30-year prison sentence.

From the first trial, Mr. A submitted several letters of remorse claiming memory loss after the crime, but both the first and second trial courts rejected his claim of diminished mental capacity. The court stated, "The defendant claims he took an unidentified drug from an unspecified person before the incident and has no memory of the murder and corpse abandonment, but it is difficult to understand this statement based on experience since he cannot specify who gave him what drug."

Mr. A also submitted several letters of remorse quoting Benjamin Franklin’s saying, "Anger and foolish behavior walk side by side. And regret bites at their hooves." However, the court said, "It is doubtful whether he is sincerely reflecting on the harm caused to the victim and society," and explained, "Considering various sentencing factors, the original sentence cannot be deemed unfair."

Meanwhile, Mr. A, a former member of an organization who had once been involved in organized activities, was also charged with attempted theft, violation of the Act on Punishment of Violent Acts, trespassing and theft of a building, and violation of the Road Traffic Act. These charges were combined with this trial and sentenced together.

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