Aunt sentenced to 15 years for throwing baby nephew from high-rise apartment in South Korea
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The authorities said the defendant had a history of mental illness, including anti-social personality disorder and depression.
PHOTO: PEXELS
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SEOUL – A woman in her 40s was sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing her 11-month-old nephew by throwing him from a 24th-floor apartment.
The Daegu District Court’s western branch on Oct 10 found the woman guilty of murdering the baby and ordered the 15-year sentence as well as five years of probation.
Delivering the verdict, the court said “the victim died in pain, unable to express himself, and the mother will live in pain with emotional scars”.
The woman was convicted of killing the baby on May 8, which was Parents’ Day in South Korea, at an apartment where her younger brother and his wife live in Dalseo district, Daegu.
The investigation revealed that the woman had been holding the baby after asking the baby’s mother if she could. When the mother briefly left the room, the defendant locked the door and threw the baby off the balcony.
The authorities said the defendant had a history of mental illness, including anti-social personality disorder and depression, for which she had been hospitalised. After her release from hospital, she developed delusions that her family would kill the infant, leading her to commit the crime.
At the scene of the crime, she had reportedly told the mother that “I euthanised him”, and “If he goes to the hospital, they will kill him painfully”.
The prosecution had earlier sought a 20-year sentence, a 10-year electronic ankle monitor and five years of probation, arguing that the crime was premeditated. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
