Supreme Court overturns 7-year sentence for shaman who bound niece and fatally exposed her to charcoal heat, recognizes murder

[Financial News] The Supreme Court recognized the murder charge against a shaman in their 80s who bound their niece, in her 30s, and killed her by repeatedly exposing her to the heat of charcoal.
According to legal sources on the 14th, the Supreme Court’s Third Division, with Justice Eom Sang-pil as the justice in charge, overturned the lower court ruling that sentenced the shaman, identified only by the surname Shim (81), to seven years in prison for murder and sent the case back to the Seoul High Court.
Shim, Shim's children, the niece and followers were among six people charged as accomplices with causing the death of a woman in her 30s by exposing her to charcoal heat for three hours at a restaurant in Bupyeong District, Incheon, on September 18, 2024.
Investigators found that when A, Shim’s niece, said she would quit her job at the shop and go to Ulleungdo, where her parents lived, Shim bound her as part of a charcoal-burning shamanic ritual, saying, “We have to get rid of the evil spirit that wants to kill her mother.”
Investigators found that Shim had followers and children build a metal structure, tied A face down on top of it, and repeatedly placed burning charcoal in a basin underneath to expose her to the heat.
They continued their sadistic acts even after A lost consciousness several times. When she eventually lost consciousness completely, they cleaned up the scene and called 119 two hours later, making false statements such as, “She fell face down onto the charcoal.”
A died two days later of multiple organ failure and other complications caused by her burns.
The first trial found Shim guilty of murder and sentenced Shim to life in prison. The second trial, however, ruled that dolus eventualis for murder had not been proven, applied the offense of causing death by injury and sharply reduced the sentence to seven years in prison.
Murder based on dolus eventualis is established when a defendant sufficiently foresaw the possibility that the victim would die and accepted that there was nothing to be done even if the victim did.
The six accomplices, including Shim’s children, were also found guilty of murder and aiding and abetting murder in the first trial and sentenced to between 10 and 25 years in prison. In the second trial, they were found guilty only of causing death by injury and aiding and abetting that offense, and received suspended prison sentences.
The second-trial panel found it difficult to conclude that Shim had a motive to kill or that the other defendants knew specifically how, at what intensity or for how long the heat would be applied.
It also said greater caution was needed in inferring dolus eventualis because the other defendants and the victim had placed considerable trust in Shim’s spiritual powers and the efficacy of the shamanic ritual.
The Supreme Court, however, held that Shim and the others had dolus eventualis for murder and that the defendants had entered into a sequential, tacit agreement, ruling that they should be found guilty of murder.
The Supreme Court noted, “Even taking the defendants’ shamanistic beliefs into account, their ‘shamanic ritual’ was excessively cruel and dangerous, and was something that even Shim, a shaman with 40 years of experience, had never attempted.” It added, “Unlike ordinary shamanistic practices such as shamanic rites or ancestral rites, this was not a ritual that ensured even a minimum level of safety.”
The court held that “the intention to ‘exorcise the evil spirit through a shamanic ritual’ and the awareness that ‘A could die as a result of the ritual’ can coexist.” It added, “Even if the defendants truly believed in the ritual’s efficacy, once they were realistically aware of the risk of death, they could not deny intent to commit murder on the grounds that they intended to exorcise the evil spirit.”
The Supreme Court also held that the victim’s older brother and older female cousin (Shim’s children), who were charged with aiding and abetting after learning of the risks before the ritual and failing to stop it despite witnessing it several times, aided and abetted murder by omission. The court said they “facilitated the murder by taking no rescue measures at all and leaving her unattended.”
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