An 80-year-old wife charged with strangling her husband to death after caring for him for seven years while he suffered from dementia has been sentenced to prison again in her appeal trial.

The 3rd Criminal Division of the Suwon High Court (Presiding Appellate Judge Cho Hyo-jung) dismissed the appeals from both sides and upheld the lower court's sentence of five years in prison for the 80-year-old defendant A, who was indicted on murder charges.

The court did not place the defendant under court custody, taking into consideration her age and health condition.

Defendant A was indicted on charges of strangling her husband, B, who was lying facedown in the living room of their home in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, at around 10:00 PM on December 19, 2022.

Investigations showed that A committed the crime using a tool found in the house as the health of her husband, who had been suffering from dementia for seven years, sharply deteriorated.

When her husband stopped breathing, A called her son, who lived separately, and the son arrived at the house and reported the incident to the police.

In both the first trial and the appeal, A completely denied any intent to commit murder, claiming that "there is a possibility that the husband accidentally died after his neck became caught in a multi-tap extension cord or similar object nearby when he fell."

However, the appellate court rejected A's claims based on the autopsy results and other evidence.

The court pointed out that "considering the bleeding and internal and external injuries on the victim's face, conjunctiva, and neck area, it is determined to be a death by asphyxiation due to neck compression from a cord or similar item," adding that "this is incompatible with the possibility of an accidental death where he happened to choke on his neck."

Furthermore, regarding the bereaved family's appeals for leniency, the court stated, "A statement of non-punishment has meaning when the defendant genuinely repents for the crime and the bereaved family accepts it," and noted, "As long as the defendant completely denies the crime, even if the bereaved family does not want punishment, this cannot be taken into account in sentencing," explaining the grounds for dismissing the appeal.

(Photo: Yonhap News)