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Man gets 12 years for beating 11-year-old son to death over homework

Published: 15 May. 2025, 18:01

A handcuffed prisoner in jail [GETTY IMAGES BANK]

A 43-year-old man was sentenced to 12 years in prison for fatally beating his 11-year-old son "to discipline" him for not doing his homework.

The Incheon District Court handed down the sentence on Thursday. The perpetrator was convicted of child abuse resulting in death under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes.

The court also ordered the perpetrator to complete 40 hours of a child abuse treatment program and barred him from working in any child-related institution for five years after his release.

“The defendant beat the victim with a baseball bat under the pretense of discipline,” the court said. “He continued the assault even as the child tried to flee in pain.”

The court added that “the child likely suffered extreme pain, and the defendant clearly used indiscriminate violence against a young child. That the crime occurred at home — a place where the child should have felt safest — at the hands of his father reflects the particularly egregious nature of the offense.”

However, the court said it “took into account that the defendant admitted to the charges and that the victim’s mother did not wish to see him punished.”

Prosecutors had sought a 10-year prison sentence during the final hearing last month, noting, “Given the defendant’s physical build — 180 centimeters [5-foot, 9-inches] tall and 100 kilograms [220 pounds] — the violence was severe and the crime grave. Still, we considered the family’s request for leniency.”

The incident occurred in an apartment in Yeonsu District, Incheon, on Jan. 16. The father was indicted on charges of beating his fifth-grade son with a baseball bat, leading to the child’s death.

The following morning, the perpetrator called emergency services, saying, “My son is not breathing.” Paramedics found the victim covered in bruises and rushed him to a general hospital, where he died from traumatic shock.

An autopsy conducted by the National Forensic Service concluded that there was a causal link between the trauma and the death.
The perpetrator reportedly told investigators he struck the victim to discipline him for not doing his homework.

During the trial, the defendant pleaded for leniency, saying, “I disciplined him out of a sense of parental responsibility as he kept lying. I never imagined he would die.”

The victim’s mother, a woman in her 30s, was also investigated for aiding and abetting child abuse resulting in death but was cleared of charges. She had taken her two daughters to her younger sibling’s home before the incident and, upon returning, was unaware of the extent of the violence and went to bed, thinking the situation was not serious.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY JUNG SI-NAE [[email protected]]