32-year-old man gets life sentence for double homicide

(Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency)

Lee Ki-young, 32, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a taxi driver and his ex-girlfriend in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, last year.

The Goyang branch of the Uijeongbu District Court, northwest of Seoul, on Friday also ordered Lee to wear a GPS-equipped electronic monitoring anklet for 30 years.

The court said in its ruling that Lee had “meticulously planned the murder and subsequent crimes” and “continued with the planned murder without any hesitation and gained economic benefits by acquiring the victim’s money.” It added that his crimes were committed without remorse.

Lee deserved a life sentence because the wounds of the bereaved families hadn’t been healed yet as they continued to live in pain, the court said, and called Lee "brutal" for having committed the "heinous crimes."

A total of nine charges were brought against Lee: robbery-homicide, concealment of bodies, computer-related fraud, fraud, infringement of communication networks, forgery of administrative documents, violation of the Specialized Credit Finance Business Act and special laws.

Lee earlier admitted to beating a 60-year-old taxi driver to death in his house in Paju before concealing the body inside a closet. Lee’s car had earlier collided with the taxi, and he was under the influence at the time of the incident. During the investigation, Lee also confessed to killing his ex-girlfriend and landlady, who was reportedly a woman in her 50s.

“Only if the law were possible, a life sentence without parole would have been ordered that would allow him to be isolated from society permanently,” the court said, referring to Lee’s crimes as “extravagantly cruel and serious.”

Those given life sentences are eligible for parole after they have served in jail for more than 20 years and have shown good behavior.

Last month, prosecutors demanded the death penalty for Lee.

By Park Jun-hee(junheee@heraldcorp.com)