A man in his 40s who killed his wife and two sons, citing financial hardship, was sentenced to life in prison.
The Criminal Division 12 of the Gwangju District Court (Presiding Judge Park Jae-seong) on the 19th sentenced a person surnamed Ji (49), who was indicted on charges of murder and assisting suicide, to life imprisonment.
Ji was detained and indicted on charges of driving a sedan carrying his wife and high-school-age sons into the sea at Jindo Port (Paengmok Port) in Imhoe-myeon, Jindo-gun, South Jeolla Province, at about 1:12 a.m. on Jun. 1, causing their deaths. He said he committed the crime after despairing over financial hardship, giving his family sleeping pills; he escaped through an open window and survived alone.
After phoning an acquaintance for help, Ji got a ride and fled to Gwangju, where he was arrested about 44 hours after the crime. He did not ask police or firefighters to rescue his family during his flight.
The court also said, "If Ji had regretted the crime immediately after plunging into the sea and rescued them right away, if he had called for help as soon as he came out of the water, this outcome might not have occurred," adding, "For crimes that infringe on others' lives, we must make clear the principle of imposing a commensurate and unmistakable punishment so that the perpetrators inevitably pay the price, to prevent a recurrence of such crimes."
Ji, a rebar worker at construction sites, said that major motives for the crime were financial problems, including about 200 million won in card debt and about 30 million won in unpaid wages owed to day laborers he managed.
It was found that Ji's two sons, who did not know Paengmok Port would be the last destination of their lives, had planned the trip by searching for good restaurants to visit with the family.
The court said, "Until the moment they lost their lives, the victimized sons likely never thought that the parents they loved most would kill them," explaining in its sentencing reasons that this was "a grave crime that cannot be tolerated for any reason."
The presiding judge read the gist of the sentence, detailing Ji's merciless actions and the final images of the two sons recovered from the sea as bodies, at times shedding tears and unable to continue speaking.
At an earlier hearing, Ji's side submitted a plea for leniency and a petition to the court, drawing a rebuke from the bench.