Court upholds life sentence for family killer

An appellate court has upheld a life sentence for a man who was found guilty of

killing his wife and two daughters.

The Seoul High Court confirmed the lower court verdict, Friday, saying the defendant, 48, committed the crimes against family members who trusted him as a husband and father.

“He committed the crimes caught up in his thoughts alone,” the court said in its ruling.

The court said it took into account that the man, identified as Kang,

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eflected on his crimes after confessing to them, was suffering from mild depression at the time and that the victims’ family had asked for leniency.

It turned down the prosecutors’ demand for the death penalty, stating that there was no reason to believe life imprisonment was too heavy or too light a punishment.

The court also pointed out that Korean society’s twisted view on wealth was partly responsible for turning the ordinary husband and father into a murderer.

Kang killed his wife, 44, and two daughters, 14 and eight, in January after losing 300 million won in stock investments while unemployed.

Then he made an aborted attempt to kill himself.

He owned an apartment worth 1.1 billion won and savings of 400 million won, so his assets larger than his debt of 500 million won.