A man in his 30s accused of killing his cohabiting partner and dumping the body was sentenced to 27 years in prison in the first trial.
On the 23rd, the 14th criminal division of the Seoul Northern District Court (Presiding Judge Oh Byung-hee) sentenced a person surnamed Seong, who was indicted and detained on charges including murder, abandoning a corpse, and injury, to 27 years in prison and ordered 15 years of electronic location-tracking device (electronic anklet) attachment.
The court said the defendant "brutally beat the victim, who was a friend, and strangled the victim to death, making the nature of the crime extremely poor," and noted, "After the crime, the defendant dumped the body in the Namhan River and then tried to flee overseas to cover up the crime, so a severe punishment commensurate with the culpability is necessary."
The court also rejected the defense's claim that there was no intent to kill. Despite the victim's poor physical condition, the defendant beat the victim, and it was foreseeable that strangling could result in death.
In January, at an apartment in Seongbuk District, Seoul, a person surnamed Seong allegedly strangled to death a man in his 30s, a person surnamed Lee who lived with the defendant, purportedly because Lee demanded motorcycle fuel costs, and then abandoned the body at the confluence of the Namhan River in Yangpyeong County, Gyeonggi.
Earlier, at the sentencing hearing, prosecutors sought life imprisonment and requested an order for 20 years of electronic device attachment.
While largely acknowledging the facts of the crime, the defense for the person surnamed Seong has denied intent, saying, "We only tried to restrain the victim who charged at us."