Drunk man goes into wrong home and commits murder

(123rf)

The Supreme Court recently confirmed a 19-year prison term for a South Korean man who mistakenly went into the wrong home and stabbed a person to death while under the influence of alcohol, officials said Monday.

The court found the defendant guilty of murder, threat and violence charges, upholding a lower court ruling. Although the defendant, in his 60s, requested a lighter punishment based on a legal clause that mitigates sentences for those who have committed a crime while not of sound mind, the court dismissed it by saying he had been fully aware that drinking could lead to violence.

According to the investigation, the defendant had been drinking with his friends in an apartment in Bupyeong-gu, Incheon on Nov. 25, 2022, and left the home severely drunk and wearing someone else's shoe. Realizing his mistake, he headed back but went into a different home, leading to an argument and to the defendant stabbing the victim with a kitchen knife found in the victim's home.

The defendant claimed that he had not been of sound mind at the time of the crime, being intoxicated and suffering from depression. But the court said he appears to have been fully conscious of his actions at the time, based on the surveillance footage and a psychiatric evaluation by medical staff at the National Forensic Hospital.

"The defendant had long been treated for alcoholism, and had been punished multiple times in the past for felonies committed while drunk, thus leading the court to believe that he was fully aware that his drinking could lead to a violent crime," the court said in its verdict, refusing to apply Clause 2 of Article 10 of the Criminal Act, which stipulates a reduction in punishment for those who were deficient in one's abilities at the time of the crime.

While this article stipulates reducing punishment for those with a "mental disorder," South Korean court often applies this article in cases in which an individual committed a crime while under the influence of alcohol. Clause 3 of the same article states that a punishment should not be reduced for those who intentionally incurred a mental disorder while anticipating the danger of a crime.

The defendant was initially sentenced to 18 years of prison by the district court, as well as a prison term of one year and six months under separate charges of threat and violence. The appellate court combined the punishments and sentenced him to 19 years, which was confirmed by the Supreme Court ruling.

By Yoon Min-sik(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)