Mother given seven years for hiding dead child in plastic container

The 35-year-old mother, who hid the corpse of her 15-month-old daughter in a plastic container since 2020, being arrested by the Pocheon police in December 2022. [YONHAP]

A court sentenced a 35-year-old mother to seven years and six months in prison for keeping the corpse of her 15-month-old daughter in a plastic container for over two years.

In addition to the prison sentence, the Uijeongbu District Court on Thursday restricted the mother from employment at institutions related to children for five years after her release and ordered her to attend 80 hours of child abuse prevention classes.

“The defendant, who was responsible for raising and protecting the child, neither took her for health exams nor got her the necessary vaccinations,” the presiding judge said at the sentencing. “Although the child had signs of health problems, the defendant went out for long periods of time repeatedly, leading to the death of the victim.”

“Not only was the crime committed heinous in the way the corpse of the victim was hidden, but the defendant doesn't appear to feel sincere remorse,” the judge said.

The 30-year-old ex-husband was sentenced to two years and four months in prison as a co-conspirator.

However, the sentences were lighter than the 13 years the prosecutors’ requested for the mother and the five years for the ex-husband.

The couple was arrested in December, two months after the police started investigating the whereabouts of the missing daughter.

The city government of Pocheon in Gyeonggi last October started to look into the whereabouts and safety of children aged three or younger amid rising cases of child abuse — including murder — while children were confined to their homes during Covid-19.

The government discovered that the daughter hadn't received a medical exam for a year and suspected foul play.

The mother failed to cooperate with repeated efforts by the authorities to contact her. When they did manage to talk to her, she said the daughter was staying with a relative.

However, the local government reported the missing child to the police after the mother refused to appear with the child.

The police ultimately found the corpse of the 15-month-old toddler in a plastic container often used to store kimchi.

The plastic container was hidden in a suitcase placed on the rooftop of a low-rise apartment building in Seodaemun District, Seoul, where the ex-husband’s parents lived.

The toddler died in January 2020 due to negligence.

The mother had often left the child alone at home while visiting her husband, who was serving time in prison at the time.

According to the prosecutors, the mother had left the child alone at home 70 times since August 2019 to travel to the prison located five hours away.

Additionally, the toddler had received only three out of 18 required vaccinations, and the mother never took the child to the hospital when she fell ill.

After the husband was released, the couple hid the body in the container.

During the trial, the mother denied abusing her daughter and claimed that the child died unexpectedly as she lay dead the next morning on the mattress where she slept the night before.

The couple was also charged with illegally pocketing the government’s child support even after the child’s death.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]