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| A petition filed on the Cheong Wa Dae website urging harsh punishment for a man who killed his girlfriend and her sister has garnered more than 250,000 signatures. / Screen captured from Cheong Wa Dae official website |
By Bahk Eun-ji
A 33-year-old man was given a life sentence, Wednesday, for murdering his girlfriend and her sister in their apartments.
The Daejeon District Court said it was only proper for the man, surnamed Kim, who it had found guilty of robbery and murder, to be isolated from society forever.
According to court records, Kim strangled his girlfriend in her apartment in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, at around 10:30 p.m., June 25 last year. He then broke into the apartment of her older sister in the same building and killed her too after she returned from work the next morning.
Kim then stole the sister's car and drove to Ulsan, where he abandoned the vehicle and fled after being involved in a traffic accident.
He also withdrew money using the victims' credit cards and tried to conceal the crime by sending a message to his girlfriend's family and acquaintances through her mobile phone as if she was still alive.
"As the defendant killed the victims for reasons that are difficult to understand, the parents lost their two daughters at the same time," the judge said in the court ruling.
"His crime was so grave, with him stealing a brand-name bag from the victim and giving it as a gift to another woman he had previously dated."
The victims' parents, who had called for the death penalty, contested the verdict, saying it didn't make sense that a person who destroyed their family should be allowed to continue living on taxes paid by the family.
Last month, the victim's father posted a petition on the Cheong Wa Dae website, calling for harsh punishment to be meted out to Kim. The petition had garnered more than 250,000 signatures as of Wednesday.
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