Husband in His 60s Who Went to Play Tennis While Wife Collapsed Bleeding Receives Suspended Sentence Again

A husband in his 60s, who left his wife lying bleeding at home and went out to exercise, has been sentenced to a prison term with a suspended sentence again in his appellate trial.

Incheon District Court Criminal Appellate Division 5-2 (Presiding Judge Yoon Hye-jeong) sentenced A, a 65-year-old man indicted without detention on charges of abandonment resulting in injury, to 1 year and 6 months in prison with a 2-year probation, upholding the lower court's ruling, during his appellate sentencing hearing today (Sept. 9).

Similar to the lower court, the appellate court concluded that it was difficult to establish a causal relationship indicating that A's act of abandonment caused his wife to fall into an unconscious state.

The appellate court explained, "The lower court judged that the time by which treatment was delayed due to A's act of abandonment was not long," adding, "It determined that it is difficult to conclude that she would not have fallen into an unconscious state even if he had called 119 immediately upon discovering her."

The court further stated, "Given that it took more than two hours for the victim to undergo emergency decompressive craniectomy, even if the report time had been advanced by about 50 minutes, the surgery start time would have only been shortened by that much." It added, "Considering hospital records and other factors, there is no probability that unconsciousness would have been prevented even if a 119 report had been made immediately upon discovery."

Regarding the prosecution's claim of unfair sentencing, the appellate court dismissed the prosecution's appeal, stating, "The lower court's sentencing is appropriate."

Previously, the prosecution demanded a 7-year prison sentence for A during the sentencing hearing held in March of last year.

A was indicted on charges of leaving his 50s wife, B, unattended and injured after finding her collapsed and bleeding on the floor at their home in Ganghwa-gun, Incheon, at around 6:12 p.m. on May 9, 2023.

He had stopped by the house to change clothes to go play tennis, and upon seeing his collapsed wife, he took a picture, sent it to his stepdaughter, and went straight out.

At the time, B had collapsed and was bleeding on the bathroom floor due to traumatic subdural hemorrhage, a type of cerebral hemorrhage. She was transported to a hospital by emergency responders following her daughter's report, but fell into a brain-dead state.

A was reportedly quoted as stating during police questioning, "There were reports of domestic violence in the past as well," and "I just left her because I didn't want to get tangled up in that kind of trouble with my wife again."

In fact, he had been booked by the police three times in the past for domestic violence cases, but was granted "no-right-to-prosecute" dispositions after the victim expressed her intent not to wish for punishment.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.