60s Wife Who Killed Husband for Badmouthing Her Parents Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison

A woman in her 60s who was charged with stabbing her husband to death over financial issues was sentenced to 12 years in prison in the first trial.

On the 23rd, the Criminal Division 1 of the Wonju Branch of Chuncheon District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Su-woong) announced that A (63), who was charged with murder, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. A was tried for killing her husband B (66) at a friend’s house of her husband in Wonju, Gangwon Province, around 6:40 p.m. on September 28 last year during the Chuseok holiday. A surrendered immediately after the incident, and B was taken to the hospital but died the next day.

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According to the prosecution’s charges and the judgment, A experienced conflicts with her family over insurance money after her younger brother died in a traffic accident in August last year. Seeing this, her husband B thought that A’s family was financially stingy, refusing to give the death insurance money to A. This issue caused frequent quarrels between the couple.

Two days before the incident, at around 10:30 p.m. on September 26 last year, the couple had a severe fight at home, and the police who responded to a 112 call separated them. Because of this, B left the house and stayed at a friend’s house he knew well. At around 2 p.m. on the 28th, A went to her husband’s friend’s house to urge him to return home but was refused. Later that day, at around 6:40 p.m., she went to the house again. B spoke ill of his in-laws regarding the death insurance money and also insulted A. Angered, A stabbed her husband three times in the chest with a weapon found in the kitchen of the friend’s house.

The court stated, “Killing a spouse is a serious crime that deprives the highest legal interest and supreme value protected by law, human life, and simultaneously betrays the responsibilities as a family member,” and pointed out that “the defendant’s guilt is heavy and the nature of the crime is bad.” However, the first trial only considered A’s surrender to the police as a discretionary mitigating factor and did not legally reduce the sentence considering the circumstances before and after the crime, the method, and the details of the crime. A’s side has appealed, arguing that the crime was impulsive and that the sentence in the first trial is heavy and unfair considering her surrender.

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