Home > National > Social Affairs

Man who assaulted ex-girlfriend with weapon handed suspended sentence

Published: 11 Nov. 2025, 09:54

A logo of police [YONHAP]

A court in Busan gave a 60-year-old man a suspended prison sentence for multiple charges, including attempted murder, after assaulting his former girlfriend with a weapon, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The Busan District Court sentenced the man to three years in prison, suspended for four years, and ordering him to undergo 40 hours of community service and 40 hours of counseling for violent behavior, the court announced on Monday.

Prosecutors said the man broke into a 60-year-old woman’s home without her permission at about 12:26 a.m. on July 29. After hiding, he approached the victim and put a bag strap around her neck and struck her several times on the head with a 4-kilogram (8.8-pound) dumbbell. The woman suffered head and facial injuries that required two weeks of treatment.

The two had dated on and off for 17 years and lived together for eight years, according to prosecutors. The woman asked the man to move out in June because she wanted to live with her daughter. After learning that the woman was seeing another man, the defendant repeatedly clashed with her, and in early July, he threatened her with a weapon if she continued to meet the other man.

The woman had told the man that she wanted to break up on July 26, prior to the attack. On July 28, the defendant went to her home late on July 28 to see her. Finding she was not there, he apparently believed she had gone to meet the other man.

The defendant returned the next day to carry out the attack. Prosecutors also said the defendant later went to the other man’s house and threw punches.

The defendant denied an intent to kill his ex-girlfriend.

The court, however, noted that after the assault, the victim ran out of the house shouting for help, and responding officers said they arrested the defendant on the spot on suspicion of attempted murder because they believed the victim could have died. The court said the defendant should have at least foreseen the possibility of the victim’s death.

The court added that the crime was grave given the late hour and the fact that the defendant had broken into the victim’s home intending to kill — and that he had a prior record including fines and a suspended sentence for obstructing official duties. However, taking into account that the murder was not completed, the victim did not suffer life-threatening injuries and the parties reached a settlement, the court handed down the suspended sentence.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM JI-HYE [[email protected]]