Crime Scene Man gets 35-year jail sentence for killing pregnant girlfriend

By Ko Dong-hwan

A man who killed his pregnant girlfriend also attempted to murder his ex-lover, a court said Monday.

Daejeon High Court, sitting as an appeal court, sentenced the man, 37, whose name has been withheld, to 35 years’ jail, increasing the initial 30-year sentence because of his “inhumane sin.”

The court said the man went to Jeju Island with his girlfriend last November to search for a place to open a restaurant. The couple spent a night at a motel and next morning had an argument over financial issues. The man then tried to strangle the woman because she “disrespected him.” When he found she was not dead, he made another attempt using a hairdryer cord.

Daejeon High Court

The man then put the woman’s body into their rental car and set the vehicle alight to make her death look like it was the result of an accident.

“The criminal knew that the victim was pregnant with his baby,” the court said, criticizing him for “being incapable of feeling responsible for respecting and protecting a human life.”

The court, appealed to by the accused and prosecutor, said the man committed the crime less than a year after finishing a prison term for attempting to murder his ex-girlfriend.