60-Year-Old Man Sentenced to 18 Years for Killing Classmate Who Tried to Stop Self-Harm While Pointing and Saying "Ni Wagrano"

A man in his 60s who killed an elementary school classmate who was trying to stop him from self-harming with a weapon after a drunken quarrel with an acquaintance dining at a neighboring table in a restaurant was sentenced to a heavy prison term.

According to the legal community on the 12th, the Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Oh Seok-jun) upheld the original sentence of 18 years in prison for Son (61), who was indicted on charges of murder.

Supreme Court, Seocho-dong, Seoul.

The court stated, "Considering various sentencing factors shown in the records, such as the defendant's age, character, environment, relationship with the victim, motive, means and results of the crime, and circumstances after the crime, even taking into account the reasons claimed in the appeal, it cannot be said that the original court's decision to sentence the defendant to 18 years in prison is seriously unjust," thus rejecting Son's appeal.

Son was indicted for stabbing and killing the victim, A, an elementary school classmate, with a weapon at a restaurant in Gimhae, Gyeongnam, on June 27 of last year.

Son had a habit of cursing when drinking, and since March of last year, he had been on bad terms with acquaintance B due to cursing B's wife while drinking.

On the day of the incident, after 9 p.m., Son went to a restaurant and started cursing abruptly, where he saw A, B, and B's wife drinking together.

When A, an elementary school classmate, greeted him warmly and extended his hand for a handshake, Son briefly shook A's hand but then sat at a neighboring table and resumed cursing. At that time, B, sitting at the neighboring table, told Son, "Stop cursing," which led to a verbal altercation between Son and B.

During the quarrel, an angry Son suddenly stood up, took off his upper garment, went into the restaurant kitchen, and came out holding a weapon.

However, noticing that B had left his seat, Son performed a self-harm act by lifting his shirt and slashing his abdomen with the weapon in front of the table where A was dining alone.

Seeing this, A scolded Son, saying "Ni wagurano" (What are you doing?), and Son, still upset from the quarrel with B, cursed at A and stabbed A in the abdomen with the weapon. A was taken to the hospital but died the next morning.

The first trial court sentenced Son to 18 years in prison.

The court stated, "The defendant stabbed and killed the victim with a weapon without any particular reason," and added, "Such a crime infringes on the victim's life and is a serious crime that cannot be remedied by any means, so severe punishment is inevitable."

Both the prosecutor and Son appealed, citing excessive sentencing, but the second trial court upheld the original judgment.

The court explained, "The original court considered various sentencing factors comprehensively and set the sentence within the recommended range (15 to 20 years in prison) according to the Supreme Court Sentencing Commission's guidelines," and added, "The original sentence appears to have been appropriately determined considering the circumstances, so it is difficult to see it as exceeding the reasonable range of sentencing discretion, and there are no special changes in circumstances warranting modification of the sentence," thus rejecting the appeals of both the prosecutor and Son.

The Supreme Court also found no problem with the second trial court's judgment.

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