After beating his mother-in-law to death and abandoning the body by putting it in a travel suitcase (carrier), Cho Jae-bok, 26, now on trial, is alleged to have beaten his 2-year-old younger sister to death when he was 4 years old.
At a trial held on the 23rd before the Daegu District Court Criminal Division 13 (Presiding Judge Chae Hee-in), prosecutors said they had obtained records of the younger sister's death case based on a phone call with Cho Jae-bok's father. The prosecutor said, "Cho Jae-bok, in the past when he was 4 years old, had the experience of beating his younger sister, who was 2 at the time, to death," and "He has had a violent disposition since the past, with multiple criminal records including as a juvenile offender."
After hearing the prosecution's account, Cho Jae-bok protested, asking in return, "Are you saying I killed my younger sister now?" The court told him to submit a written opinion if there were parts that differed from the facts.
Separately, prosecutors submitted as evidence a vacuum cleaner with a broken handle from Cho Jae-bok's home, saying, "It broke in the process of beating the mother-in-law." In response, Cho Jae-bok countered, "The handle broke while disciplining a pet dog I was raising."
In March, at an officetel in Jung District, Daegu, Cho Jae-bok was indicted on charges including beating his mother-in-law, 54, with his hands and feet to death, then putting the body in a carrier and abandoning it along the Sincheon stream in Buk District. According to the Daegu Bukbu Police Station, the deceased mother-in-law had lived together with her daughter, a person surnamed Choi, 26, to protect her after Cho Jae-bok committed domestic violence against the daughter beginning right after the marriage last year.
The next trial is scheduled for Sept. 17 at 10:40 a.m.