A woman who had reported domestic violence to police five times was stabbed to death, and police are searching for her husband, whom she was divorcing, as the prime suspect.
According to police, the woman, identified only as A, was stabbed multiple times by an unidentified assailant at about 7:17 a.m. on the 1st on an outdoor stairway of a multi-unit building in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province. A, who had previously reported domestic violence, alerted police using a smartwatch issued to her and was taken to a hospital, where she died. Police identified a suspect wearing a cap on nearby closed-circuit television footage and are tracking his whereabouts.
Police believe the suspect is most likely A's husband, a man in his 30s identified as B. A had reported to police a total of five times, from March last year until recently, that she had been assaulted by B, investigators said.
In each of those reports, however, A said she did not want B punished, according to police. The Suwon Jangan Police Station, which covers her former residence, conducted its own investigation and in May booked B on domestic violence charges and referred the case to prosecutors. A then began living separately from B in the multi-unit building in Gwangju and filed for divorce last month.
During that process, she also obtained a temporary protection order from the court, sources said. Such orders include measures barring the offender from the victim's home, prohibiting him from coming within 100 meters of her and restricting contact by telecommunications.
Citing those circumstances and the fact that B cannot currently be reached, police are pursuing him as the prime suspect.
