A woman in her 20s who left a newborn in a motel sink in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi, leading to the baby's death, has been indicted and detained on a charge of child abuse murder.
On the 9th, the Criminal Division 3 of the Uijeongbu District Prosecutors Office (Chief Prosecutor Gu Min-gi) said it had indicted and detained a woman in her 20s, identified as A, on suspicion of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes (child abuse murder).
Prosecutors applied the more serious charge of child abuse murder than the murder charge police had sought when they referred the case. Murder is punishable by death, life imprisonment, or at least five years in prison, while child abuse murder is punishable by death, life imprisonment, or at least seven years, carrying a heavier sentence.
According to prosecutors, after learning she was pregnant, A tried to have an abortion, but when the gestational age passed the limit and surgery was no longer possible, she gave birth alone to a baby girl in a motel room.
A was found to have left the victim in a bathroom sink filled with water for about 10 minutes immediately after giving birth.
After the case was referred, prosecutors said they conducted supplemental investigations, questioning the defendant, a cohabiting partner, motel staff, and paramedics, and performing a second forensic examination of the mobile phone.
They determined that a causal link existed between the act of child abuse and the death, and changed the charge applied in the case from simple murder to child abuse murder before indicting.
Earlier, A was accused of causing the death of the baby girl she had given birth to in a motel room in Uijeongbu on Dec. 13 last year in the afternoon.
Responding to a report from the motel owner, police and fire authorities who arrived at the scene found the newborn in a sink filled with water. The child, who was in cardiac arrest, was taken to a hospital but died.
The National Forensic Service, based on the autopsy, gave an oral opinion that although the cause of death could not be determined through an initial visual examination, drowning could not be ruled out.
In a police interview, A denied the murder charge, saying, "I gave birth alone in the motel room and tried to wash the baby."