A man in his 20s has been sentenced to prison after he bought a knife, drove to meet a woman who had stopped answering his calls, and then rammed his car into two bystanders after she took the weapon away from him.
The Daegu District Court's 12th criminal division, presided over by Chief Judge Jung Han-geun, on the 2nd sentenced the 23-year-old defendant, identified only as A, to one year and six months in prison on charges including preparation for murder.
Prosecutors said A bought a knife on April 1 and drove with it the next day to a location where he had arranged to meet B, a 23-year-old woman, intending to kill her.
At about 6:30 p.m. on April 2, A accelerated his car toward B in the parking lot of an officetel — a studio unit used as either a home or an office — and stopped the vehicle directly in front of her, according to the charges.
The situation escalated after B took the knife from A. He then drove into C, a 14-year-old acquaintance of B, and D, a 23-year-old woman who lived in the building, both of whom were standing in front of the car. D suffered sprains to her wrist and elbow that required about two weeks of treatment.
A and B had met through Instagram. A had repeatedly called and messaged B since March. He learned that B had filed a criminal complaint against him for defamation and other offenses, then arranged to meet her and went to the location, investigators said.
"In light of the motive and circumstances of the crime, the method used and its consequences, the nature of the offense is very serious and the defendant's culpability is grave," the court said in explaining the sentence.
