By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
An 11-year-old elementary schoolboy with psychiatric problems is suspected of having pushed a two-year-old girl to death over the external corridor wall of a 13th floor apartment building in Gwangju.
According to police, the girl, identified only as Kim, who lived at a home on the third floor of an apartment building in the southwestern city fell to her death around 2:45 p.m. Saturday.
Kim's mother testified that she, her son and the girl got off the elevator at the third floor, but the girl got on it again for fun and the elevator went up. The mother looked for her before hearing a thud and found the girl lying on the ground.
As the 117-centimeter-high parapet of the apartment corridor was too high for the 86-centimeter-tall girl to jump off, police examined the CCTV recording of the elevator, which showed the boy was with her.
According to the recording, the girl got off the elevator at the sixth floor, but the boy, identified only as Park who lives on the same floor, took her back into the elevator and they went up to the 13th floor.
One-and-a-half minutes later, she fell to the ground. After her fall, Park went down by another elevator. Kim was moved to hospital but died about six hours later.
Police suspect Park threw her off the corridor.
Park had medical treatment for impulse control disorder about a year ago, and had previously destroyed cars at his school and the apartment by throwing heavy items out of a window, said police.
Following an autopsy, police said Monday that the cause of the girl's death was internal chest trauma caused by multiple fractures stemming from the fall.
As he is a minor and not subject to criminal punishment under the law, Park is likely to receive treatment after being confined in a special center for up to six months, police said.