In the first trial, the court sentenced a 48-year-old mother Seok-mo (48), who was suspected of 'child swapping' in relation to the death of a 3-year-old girl in Gumi, Gyeongbuk, to 8 years in prison in the first trial.
The court found guilty of both the controversial child swapping charges as well as the attempted concealment of the girl's body.
Judge Seo Cheong-woon, the 2nd independent detective of the Daegu District Court, Kim Cheon-ji, gave this sentence today (17th) to Seok, who was indicted on charges of 'abducting minors and attempting to hide the body'.
The court said, "The defendant's actions are a serious crime that infringes on the parental right to protect and custody. It appears that they were trying to conceal the body with a
"The crime of the accused is very poor, and there is a high possibility of social condemnation," he added.
Seok was on trial for stealing Kim's child from somewhere between the end of March and the beginning of April 2018 by swapping the child he gave birth to a child born to his own daughter Kim (22) at an obstetrics and gynecology clinic in Gumi. passed over.
He was also charged with moving the body into a box for burial in a villa in Gumi, where Kim lived, on February 9, one day before reporting the death of a 3-year-old girl to the police.
In this trial, issues such as whether the mother Seok gave birth and whether or not to change the child were at issue.
At the trial on the 13th of last month, the prosecution said, "The accused continues to deny the crime without showing any remorse. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison.”
In response, Seok's lawyer said, "Kim gave birth to a girl on March 31, 2018, and the deceased girl was confirmed to be the defendant's biological daughter, so it seems that two children exist, but it is impossible to determine the guilt of the defendant by tracing it back." "The swap reasoning is not rational," he defended.
This case was initially known as a child abuse case, but Seok, who is known as the maternal grandmother of a three-year-old girl who died, was found to be the mother in a genetic (DNA) test, and received great attention due to whether the child was replaced.
In the tests conducted by the National Forensic Research Institute and the Supreme Prosecutor's Office, it was confirmed that Seok was the mother of the deceased girl.
However, at the trial, Mr. Seok denied the allegations, saying, "I never gave birth to a child, and therefore I did not change the children."
Seok's child died in the middle of the same month after Kim moved into an empty house in early August of last year, and was found dead on February 10 of this year.
(Photo = Yonhap News)