Top court upholds life sentence for assailant in Bundang stabbing rampage

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Top court upholds life sentence for assailant in Bundang stabbing rampage

Published: 20 Nov. 2024, 18:26

Choi Won-jong speaks to reporters at Seongnam Sujeong Police Station in on Aug. 10, 2023, as he is transferred to the prosecution. [YONHAP]

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld life imprisonment for a man who went on a deadly stabbing rampage in Bundang, Gyeonggi.

Choi Won-jong, 23, was indicted for smashing his mother's car into passing pedestrians outside a busy department store in Bundang in Seongnam city on Aug. 3 and going on a stabbing spree inside the store building.

Two women died after being struck by the car, and 12 others were injured in the car crash and stabbing rampage.

On Wednesday, the top court finalized life imprisonment for him, saying that the sentence cannot be seen as unfair and there were no violations of the defendant's right to a fair trial.

Choi had insisted that he was in a state of mental vulnerability at the time of the crime, so he did not have to take criminal responsibility, but the court rejected the claim.

Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for him.

Yonhap