While the biological father is on trial on charges of abusing his 3-year-old son to death, police decided to refer the biological mother and the maternal grandparents to prosecutors on child abuse charges as well.
The Gyeonggi Northern Provincial Police Agency said on the 29th it plans to refer the biological mother in her 20s, identified as A, and the maternal grandfather and grandmother on suspicion of violating the Child Welfare Act (physical and emotional abuse and neglect). The same charges were additionally applied to the biological father, identified as B, who is currently on trial for child abuse resulting in death.
Since the child abuse resulting in death case in April, police have carried out additional investigations into abuse throughout the household.
Police said digital forensics on the parents' cellphones and a tablet PC, the car's dashcam, and closed-circuit (CC) TV obtained during the investigation found indications that the parents repeatedly committed physical and emotional abuse against the victim and other children starting in January this year.
Based on indications that the parents hit their children with items such as a massage stick, police determined the biological father and mother to be co-perpetrators. They also decided to refer the maternal grandparents together after one instance indicating they, too, committed physical and emotional abuse against the deceased child was confirmed.
Earlier, the 3-year-old, identified as C, was found unconscious at the family home in Okjeong-dong, Yangju, Gyeonggi, on the 9th of last month and was taken to a hospital, but died five days later.
The biological father, B, was indicted on charges of grabbing C by the arm and forcefully throwing the child onto a stone bed, injuring the head and other areas and causing death.
At the first hearing held on the previous day, B's side acknowledged some actions but denied the charges, saying, "It was not a death caused by child abuse."