Court upholds sentence for man responsible for girlfriend's fatal fall from window as she fled his abuse

An appeals court upheld the four-year sentence of a man who caused the death of his girlfriend after she fell from a window ledge while fleeing his abuse.

An image of a statue of Justitia, the goddess of justice [KOREA JOONGANG DAILY]

An appeals court upheld the four-year sentence of a man who caused the death of his girlfriend after she fell from a window ledge while fleeing his abuse.

The Jeonju District Court dismissed appeals from both prosecutors and the defendant and upheld the original ruling, according to legal sources on Tuesday.

“The defendant deposited compensation money with the court for the victim's family during both the first trial and the appeal, but the bereaved family said they would not accept it,” the court said. “This case resulted in the grave, irreversible outcome of the victim’s death, and we see no grounds to reduce the sentence.”

The man was charged with causing his girlfriend to fall from the fourth floor of an apartment building in Jeonju, North Jeolla, on Jan. 6, 2023.

Investigators said the woman retreated to a room and locked the door to escape repeated assaults. The man then retrieved a fork and chopsticks from the kitchen and attempted to force the door open.

Despite the rain, the woman opened a window and sat on a ledge measuring only 20 centimeters (7.9 inches) wide to hide.

After breaking into the room, the man searched under the bed and desk before finding her on the ledge. He then opened the window, and the woman fell to her death.

Investigators said the man assaulted the woman every time he was drunk from February 2022, around the time they began dating, until the day of her death, striking her with his fists, feet and household items. He once even broke her ribs after she said she wanted to go home.

The woman’s medical records indicated signs of dating violence, including a healed rib fracture and bruising to her face and legs.

While the two were dating, the woman sent multiple text messages asking him to stop the violence.

The messages included appeals such as, “I begged you to stop hitting me and to let me live,” and, “Every time I see my swollen face, that scene comes back, and it feels like hell.”

During the trial, the man argued that he did not know the woman was sitting on the window ledge at the time, but both the first and appeal trials concluded that his actions led directly to her death.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom. BY JANG GU-SEUL [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]