Defendant Who Killed Mother With Dementia Gets Six Years on Appeal

A defendant in his or her 60s who killed a mother after caring for her alone as she suffered from dementia was again sentenced to six years in prison on appeal.

The Gwangju High Court's second criminal division, presided over by Judge Hwang Jin-hee, on the 22nd dismissed the prosecution's appeal and upheld the six-year prison term handed down by the lower court to the 63-year-old defendant, who was indicted on a charge of killing a lineal ascendant, according to legal sources.

The defendant was charged with killing the mother, who was in her 80s, at a family burial ground in Jangseong County, Jeollanam-do, on the morning of Jan. 13.

The defendant, who had made a living from farming, had cared for the mother alone for several years after she developed dementia. The crime was committed while the defendant was suffering severe financial and emotional strain in the course of caring for her, investigators found.

The lower court said the case was "an inhumane and antisocial crime that is highly blameworthy, making severe punishment unavoidable." Still, it imposed the prison term after weighing that the defendant admitted the offense, had no prior criminal record, acted impulsively while under severe financial and emotional strain, and that the defendant's siblings had petitioned for leniency.

"Given that this is a homicide, the sentence imposed by the lower court cannot be seen as too light, even taking into account the circumstances the prosecution cited as grounds for appeal," the appeals court said.