The top court upheld a lower court’s life imprisonment sentence against Kim Tae-hyun, a 26-year-old man convicted of murdering three women inside their home in Seoul’s Nowon district last year.
The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed appeals filed by both the offender and the prosecution, while maintaining an order for Kim to wear an electronic tracking device for 30 years.
In March of last year, Kim broke into the apartment of the woman he had been stalking since meeting her while playing an online game. Upon gaining entry, he proceeded to kill her sister and mother before killing the woman herself.
He was also accused of deleting information related to himself on the woman’s computer and social media accounts after the murders.
While Kim claimed that the murders of the woman’s family members was not premediated, the prosecution had sought the death penalty, arguing that all three killings were planned.
Both lower courts recognized the premeditation, but handed down a life sentence, citing the fact that the country has not carried out an execution for the past 25 years, rendering the sentence implicitly abolished.
Source: KBS World Radio