Attacked with Pipe Until It Broke, Yet Escapes Prison Term for Attempted Murder

A man in his 40s who attempted to murder a woman in her 20s whom he knew by beating her with an aluminum pipe has had his prison sentence commuted to probation by an appellate court.

According to legal circles, the Suwon High Court Criminal Division 2 (Presiding Judge Kim Gun-woo) overturned a lower court ruling that sentenced A, who was indicted on charges of attempted murder, to three years in prison, instead sentencing him to three years in prison suspended for five years.

In addition, the court ordered three years of probation and 80 hours of community service.

A was indicted for attempting to murder B, a woman in her 20s, on a road in Daedeok-myeon, Anseong-si, Gyeonggi Province, at around 7:36 p.m. on November 6 of last year, by striking her head and face about 30 times with a 59-centimeter aluminum mop handle and other objects as she was returning home.

Investigations revealed that even after the pipe broke, A continued to punch and kick B multiple times after she had fallen to the ground, inflicting injuries requiring two weeks of medical treatment.

The two were acquaintances who had been arguing via text messages over issues such as paying for drinks. As the emotional dispute escalated to include insults directed at each other's families, A harbored a grudge and committed the crime, it was determined.

Previously, the court of first instance sentenced A to three years in prison, noting that the crime was brutal and its nature grave, as he continued his attack even after the victim had lost the ability to defend herself.

However, the appellate court reversed the lower court's prison sentence and commuted the punishment to probation.

The appellate court stated that while the nature of the crime was grave given the methods and motives, it heavily factored in the fact that the defendant admitted to all charges and expressed remorse through the first and appellate trials, and above all, that he reached a settlement with the victim, who expressed her wish not to see the defendant punished.

The court further explained that considering various sentencing conditions—including the fact that the defendant had no prior record of the same type of crime, had no criminal record other than a single past fine, and had shown remorse while detained for about eight months over this incident—the original sentence was too heavy and therefore unfair.

Meanwhile, during the appellate proceedings, A mentioned a past diagnosis of panic disorder and argued for mental and physical weakness caused by an overdose of neuropsychiatric medication as a ground for sentence reduction, but the court rejected this, stating it was difficult to view him as having lacked the capacity to discern right from wrong at the time.

(File Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.