A man in his 30s who beat his three-month-old son to death after his wife left home has had his 10-year prison sentence upheld on appeal.
The Changwon branch of the Busan High Court's Criminal Division 1, presided over by Judge Park Kwang-seo, on Sept. 30 upheld the lower court's 10-year sentence for a man surnamed Kim, who was indicted on charges of violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes, the legal community said on Oct. 1. The appeals court also maintained the lower court's orders requiring Kim to complete 40 hours of a child abuse treatment program and barring him from working at child-related institutions for 10 years.
"He made the weakest being in the family and in society the target of his anger, and the victim ended his short life in pain that is hard to imagine," the court said. "The defendant's conduct cannot easily be forgiven, and there is a need to hold him strictly accountable under the law."
Kim was indicted on charges of beating his three-month-old son to death at around 2 a.m. on Nov. 24 last year at his home in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, while the infant was lying in a crib.
The investigation found that Kim had argued with his wife, surnamed A, on Nov. 22, two days before the crime, over his drinking and financial problems, and that she had left home. The day before the crime, Kim dropped his son while bathing him but took no action in response.
Kim then called a woman engaged in prostitution to his home and drank about four bottles of soju and 1,500 milliliters of draft beer with her. After the woman left, a heavily intoxicated Kim assaulted his son out of anger stemming from the conflict with his wife, stress over the unplanned birth and child care, and frustration that he had not been able to drink freely, investigators found.
A returned home on the night of the crime and the following morning, after feeding the infant formula and laying him down, found that he was not breathing and called 112, the emergency number. The boy was taken to a hospital but died.
Kim told investigators that he committed the crime amid a mix of stress over his wife and over himself for not being ready to become a father. "I hit him hard, channeling my anger, and I think the force was strong enough to cause a fracture to the child's skull," he said.
Kim argued during trial that he had no intent to kill, but the first-instance court found he had at least conditional intent to kill and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. Kim then appealed, arguing the sentence was too heavy.
In explaining its dismissal of the appeal, the appeals court said the pain the victim must have suffered was difficult even to gauge and that Kim had made the victim, the weakest being in the family and in society, the target of his anger. "There is a need to hold him strictly accountable under the law," the court said.
