South Korea's Supreme Court has upheld a 10-year prison term for a father who beat his premature newborn son to death before the child turned two months old.
The top court's second division, presided over by Justice Suh Kyung-hwan, recently affirmed the lower court ruling against the father, identified only as A, who was indicted on charges including violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes, legal sources said on the 3rd. The mother, identified as B, who was tried alongside him on charges of violating the Child Welfare Act through abandonment and neglect, received a two-year sentence suspended for three years.
The couple were indicted on charges of abusing and killing their son, identified as C, who was born prematurely in May 2023 and had been discharged after treatment in a neonatal intensive care unit. Stressed by the baby's frequent crying and fussing, the father struck the infant repeatedly on the head and face in July that year. The child suffered a skull fracture and other injuries and later died of complications including purulent meningitis. The mother was accused of failing to take protective measures despite knowing about her husband's assaults.
Both the trial court and the appeals court sentenced the father to 10 years in prison and the mother to two years, suspended for three years.
"Every child has the right to grow up happily in a stable family environment and must be protected from abuse and neglect," the trial court said. "The father's crime is extremely serious and highly blameworthy, and the mother's offense is also grave."
The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, finding no error in the lower court's interpretation of the law regarding the specification of the charges, causation, or the finding of intent in the neglect.
