Court orders electronic anklets to be worn for 30 years… “I don’t repent”
Kwon Jae-chan (53), who murdered a middle-aged woman he knew and then took money and valuables and even killed an accomplice who helped dump the body, was sentenced to death in the first trial, the highest sentence in the courts.
The 15th Criminal Division of the Incheon District Court (Chief Judge Lee Kyu-hoon) sentenced Kwon to death, who had been arrested and charged with robbery and murder and abandonment of the body.
The court also ordered Kwon to wear a location tracking electronic device (electronic anklet) for 30 years.
The court said, “The accused approached the (female) victim for the purpose of escaping from the poor economic situation and committed the crime, dragged in an accomplice and killed him.”
“The accused prepared the tools for the crime in advance, killed the victims one after another according to his own purpose and intention, and attempted to flee abroad after abandoning the body or destroying evidence.” he explained.
The court revealed the reason why it was sentenced to the maximum sentence by the court saying that there is a possibility that Kwon, who committed this case, may commit another murder after three years and eight months after serving a prison sentence for crimes such as robbery and murder.
The court said, “We cannot expect the accused to be rehabilitated or to recover his humanity.” “Even considering that the death penalty is an extremely exceptional punishment that permanently deprives the accused of his life, he sentenced the accused to death, the highest punishment under the Criminal Code, to hold the accused accountable and prevent recurrence. do,” he explained.
“Although the accused denied the robbery and murder charges, he admitted that he killed the victims,” he added.
On that day, the court admitted only the murder charges, saying that it is difficult to see that the crime against an accomplice was for the purpose of robbery among Kwon’s two robbery murders.
The court explained, “It cannot be said that the amount of money borrowed by the accused (from the accomplice) is large.”
Previously, the prosecution had asked for the death penalty for Kwon, saying, “The victim’s bereaved family is pleading for severe punishment.”
Kwon was arrested and charged with assaulting and strangling a woman in her 50s, whom she had known before, in the underground parking lot of a commercial building in Michuhol-gu, Incheon around 7 am on December 4, last year, and then strangling her and leaving her body in the trunk of a car.
He withdrew 4.5 million won in cash from A’s credit card and also stolen 11 million won worth of precious metals from A.
The next day, Kwon was also accused of killing an accomplice, male B, in his 40s, with a blunt weapon he had prepared in advance in a hillside near Eulwang-ri, Jung-gu, Incheon, and burying his body nearby.
Mr. B, who is a former co-worker of Mr. Kwon, did not directly kill Mr. A, but helped Mr. Kwon when he pulled out cash by credit card and abandoned Mr. A’s body.
Before the crime, Kwon searched the Internet for ‘a street without people’, ‘a lot of rice fields in Bupyeong’, ‘mask robbery’, and ‘ATM mask theft’.
In 2003, Kwon also beat and murdered a pawnshop owner (age 69 at the time of his death) in Incheon, then stole 320,000 won and smuggled it to Japan, but was later caught.
At that time, he was indicted on five counts, including robbery and murder and violating the Anti-Smuggling Act, and was sentenced to life in prison in the first trial.
On the other hand, it is the first time in two years and seven months since the case of Ahn In-deuk, a murderer in an arson at the Jinju apartment in November 2019.
South Korea has not carried out any executions since December 30, 1997, and has been classified as a ‘de facto abolitionist country’ since 2007.
As of the end of last year, 59 people on death row were serving sentences.
/yunhap news
