2024-02-01 05:18:00
On the afternoon of the 1st, at the Seongnam Branch of the Suwon District Court in Gyeonggi Province, Choi Won-jong, who killed 14 people by swinging a weapon at a department store in Bundang, is getting back into a convoy after being sentenced to life imprisonment in the first trial. / Reporter Jang Ryeon-seong
Choi Won-jong (23), a defendant in the ‘Seohyeon-dong knife attack incident’ that killed 14 people, was sentenced to life imprisonment in the first trial on the 1st.
Previously, the prosecution had requested the death penalty, but the court did not accept it.
On this day, the Suwon District Court Seongnam Branch Criminal Division 2 (Presiding Judge Kang Hyeon-gu) sentenced Choi Won-jong, who was indicted on charges of murder, attempted murder, and preliminary murder, to life imprisonment. He also ordered them to be fitted with location tracking electronic devices for 30 years.
The court said, “The defendant chose a subway department store, where he could harm as many people as possible, as the location of the crime in order to get the media and police to intervene in the stalking organization that was harassing him, and after carefully preparing the tools and methods of the crime, he drove his car onto the sidewalk and committed two crimes. “Even though he killed nine victims and injured three others, he did not stop there and entered the department store and stabbed and injured nine victims he happened to encounter,” he said. “Due to each crime in this case, lives, which are of absolute value, were lost.” “There is no way to recover, and other victims are also suffering.” He also said, “It has had a negative impact on society as a whole, raising fears that public places where the public gather can be targets of terrorism, and postings predicting terrorism are frequently posted immediately after this incident occurs.”
The court said, “It is acknowledged that the defendant was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of each crime in this case, and that he had a weak ability to discriminate between objects or make decisions due to persecutory and relationship delusions resulting from this,” but added, “An investigation was conducted on the day of the crime.” Considering that the agency made a detailed statement about the motive, circumstances, and method of the crime, and that there were also objective evaluations of his actions and concerns about his personal health, it appears that the defendant was in a state of mental and physical loss with no ability to distinguish between objects. “The claims of the defendant and his defense attorney that there was a case cannot be accepted,” the ruling ruled.
The court said, “According to the evidence, the defendant has not been found to have any cognitive deficits and has no difficulties communicating in daily life,” and added, “He has been diagnosed with a psychiatric illness several times and is taking medication despite being aware of his medical history.” He said, “There is a risk of committing a crime by avoiding treatment by taking it consistently or not receiving medical treatment and by arbitrarily discontinuing treatment.” At the same time, “Considering that he searched the Sillim-dong stabbing, Sashimi knife, etc. on the Internet, and searched for ‘sentence reduction due to mental and physical weakness’ as a keyword, it appears that he committed the crime with the reduction of his sentence due to mental and physical weakness in mind, so we judged that it was appropriate not to commute his sentence.” revealed.
The court said, “I can understand the opinion that the defendant should be sentenced to death, but very careful judgment is required,” adding, “The defendant’s mental problems cannot be completely ruled out as one of the reasons that led to the crime in this case, considering the sentencing factors. “If we look at it, it cannot be said that the requirement for a death sentence to deprive the defendant of his life has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said.
An image of the bereaved family immediately after the sentencing of Choi Won-jong, who was handed over to trial for the ‘Don’t Ask, Knife Rampage’ that took place at Seohyeon Station, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, on the afternoon of the 1st. /Reporter Jang Ryeon-seong
As soon as the verdict was announced that day, the courtroom was filled with the wailing sounds of the victims’ families.
After the sentencing, the husband of the victim, the late Lee Hee-nam (65 years old at the time of the incident), told reporters, “I am very resentful of a world where innocent people are murdered and criminals are still alive.” “We must stop crime,” he said.
The father of the victim, the late Kim Hye-bin (20 years old at the time of the incident), said, “We are disappointed because we did not get the result we wanted (the death penalty),” and added, “Of course we will appeal.” He said, “I felt that the death penalty could not exist. “I don’t understand the court that made the decision while completely excluding the punishment of death,” he sobbed.
On August 3rd last year, at approximately 5:56 PM, Wonjong Choi drove his morning car onto the sidewalk near Seohyeon Station, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, killed two people, injured three others, then entered a nearby department store and attempted to stab nine people to death. He was indicted on one charge (murder and attempted murder).
Prior to this, he was also charged with giving up the crime (preliminary murder) while attempting to kill an unspecified number of people with two weapons prepared in advance near a department store in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, at Yatap Station, Seohyeon Station, and Migeum Station, and inside the subway, around 8 p.m. on August 2, the previous day.
Choi Won-jong’s lawyer argued for mental and physical weakness, saying, “As a result of the mental evaluation, (Choi Won-jong) was in a serious condition where he was not even aware of the fact that he was delusional, and it is reasonable to say that he was in a state of mental and physical loss due to schizophrenia and had no ability to control his actions.”
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