Aunt sentenced to 15 years for throwing her 11-month-old nephew out of an apartment building

SEOUL: A woman in her 40s was sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing her 11-month-old nephew by throwing him from a 24th-floor apartment.

The Western Division of the Daegu District Court found the woman guilty of the baby’s murder on Thursday (Oct 10) and ordered a 15-year prison sentence and five years’ probation.

Passing sentence, the court said: “The victim died in pain, unable to express herself and the mother will live in pain with emotional scars.”

She was convicted of killing the baby on May 8, Parents’ Day in South Korea, at an apartment where her younger brother and his wife live in Dalseo-gu, Daegu.

Investigation revealed that the woman had held the baby after asking the baby’s mother if she could.

When the mother left the room for a moment, the suspect locked the door and threw the baby off the balcony.

Authorities said the defendant had a history of mental illness, including antisocial personality disorder and depression, for which she had been hospitalized.

After her release from the hospital, she developed delusions that her family would kill the child, which led her to commit the crime.

At the scene of the crime, she reportedly told the mother that “I euthanized him” and “if he goes to the hospital, they will kill him painfully.”

The prosecutor had previously sought a 20-year prison sentence, 10 years’ electronic ankle monitor and five years’ probation, arguing the crime was premeditated. – The Korea Herald/ANN