A man in his 40s has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for killing and secretly burying his stepmother in an attempt to seize her basic pension fund and other assets.
Charged with robbery and murder by the Criminal Agreement 15 Division of the Seoul Southern District Court (Judge Yang Hwan Seung), the suspect was sentenced to 35 years in prison, according to the legal community. The court also ordered him to wear a location-tracking electronic ankle monitor for 20 years.
The suspect is accused of killing his stepmother in her home in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on October 19 last year when she tried to stop him from taking his sister’s disability pension account. He then secretly buried her body near a stream in Yecheon, North Gyeongsang Province. He later withdrew and used the account’s 1.65 million won ($1,400).
The court said, “No case where a person’s life is used as a means for economic gain can be tolerated,” and pointed out that “he had previously been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for robbery and assault, and showed signs of lying and trying to downplay and evade his crime during the investigation.”
However, the court noted, “We considered the fact that the crime was not premeditated, the gain from the crime was not significant, and he seems to be showing remorse, albeit belatedly.”
According to the prosecution, the suspect had been unemployed since April of the same year. After borrowing money from those around him, he was found to have squandered his money on horse and cycle racing gambling and internet broadcast sponsorship.
In the final trial, the prosecution argued that “the crime of killing his mother for economic reasons and hiding her body is very heinous” and demanded life imprisonment.
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