Mother Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison for Murdering 3-Year-Old Daughter, 6 Years After Crime

[Anchor]

A mother has been sentenced to 13 years in prison in her first trial for strangling her 3-year-old daughter to death six years ago. The man who was her partner at the time was also sentenced to 10 months in prison for his role in abandoning the child's body.

Reporter Je Hui-won has the story.

[Reporter]

In March 2020, a woman in her 30s, identified as A, strangled her 3-year-old daughter to death at their home in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province.

She claimed the motive for the murder was that "life became difficult after breaking up with her husband, and the child felt like a burden in her life."

A man in his 30s, identified as B, who was her partner at the time, abandoned the child's body on a mountain about 30 minutes away.

[A (SBS 8 News, March 19, 2026): (Did you order the abandonment of the body?) ...... (Do you have nothing to say to the child?) ......]

The crime remained hidden for six years until this past March, when the deceased child was supposed to enter elementary school.

As the enrollment period approached—after having been delayed once two years ago—A had taken B's niece to the preliminary school orientation, pretending she was her own daughter, and even applied for a field trip for the child.

However, when the child failed to show up for school after the field trip period ended, the elementary school reported the situation to the police, leading to the full disclosure of the case.

It was also revealed that A had been illegally receiving child allowances for nearly six years, which sparked public outrage.

The court in the first trial sentenced A to 13 years in prison, despite the prosecution's request for a 25-year sentence, and also ordered a 10-year ban on her employment at child-related institutions.

The court rebuked A, stating that she "committed an anti-humanitarian crime" and that "due to the concealment of the body, the victim was not even guaranteed her final dignity as a human being after death."

In sentencing B to 10 months in prison, the court explained, "We took into account that he committed the crime out of concern that A, who was suffering from depression, might make an extreme choice."

Following this case, the government began preparing measures to integrate and manage information on at-risk preschool children that had been scattered across different agencies, and related bills have been proposed in the National Assembly.

(Video Editing: Jung Yong-hwa)

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