'Attempted murder' still gets a suspended sentence for a first-time offender... Incheon knife-rampage suspect had three prior knife attacks

[Financial News] A, 59, who went on a knife rampage at a large supermarket in Incheon, was given a suspended sentence for his first attempted murder 22 years ago because he had reached a settlement with the victim, it has been confirmed. A is also reported to have committed two more weapon-related crimes, including attempted murder and injury, but received a maximum sentence of only four years in prison.
According to Yonhap News on the 15th, after the home he was renting on a deposit was put up for auction in July 2004, leaving him unable to recover his 9 million won deposit, A went in September that year to an employee of the licensed real estate agency that had introduced him to the home. He hid a paring knife in his sock, waited for the other employees to leave work, then approached the victim from behind and stabbed the victim in the shoulder and chest.
The first-trial court noted that A committed the crime knowing that the victim could die, but sentenced him to five years in prison, taking into account that he had no criminal record, that the crime was impulsive, and that he regretted his actions. The appeals court later reduced the sentence to two years and six months in prison, suspended for three years, because A had settled with the victim.
The problem was that A committed another knife-related crime in 2007 after being released. At the time, he was drinking with B, a woman he lived with, when they got into an argument. After B attacked him with a paring knife she was holding, A took the knife from her and stabbed her.
A was indicted along with B in connection with the incident on charges of violating the Act on the Punishment of Violent Acts (inflicting injury as a group or with a weapon, etc.), and the court sentenced him to 18 months in prison, suspended for three years. The court also took into account that B had attacked and injured A and that neither wanted the other to be punished.
A later registered his marriage to B, but they divorced. In 2015, he was indicted for attempting to kill B and sentenced to four years in prison. At the time, after B refused to get back together, A stabbed her several times with a kitchen knife in the arm, hand, and area around the heart.
A police officer who responded to the scene struck A's arm with an expandable baton, but A reportedly refused to let go of the kitchen knife and continued trying to stab B. The first-trial court judged that A was at risk of committing murder again and ordered him to wear an electronic monitoring device (ankle monitor) for 10 years after his release, through February 23, 2029. A scored 14 on the recidivism risk assessment scale, classified as a “high level.”
The court said it had taken into account in sentencing that A confessed to all the crimes and showed remorse. A submitted dozens of letters of apology to the court. He appealed, claiming diminished mental capacity because he had psychiatric problems and was drunk at the time of the incident, but the court dismissed the appeal.
After serving his sentence, A returned to society and, while wearing an ankle monitor, indiscriminately attacked 10 strangers with a weapon on the 13th at the C&C (see&see) building, part of a large commercial facility in Guwol-dong, Namdong-gu, Incheon.
A 19-year-old woman among the victims was taken to the hospital in cardiac arrest and underwent emergency surgery. Her heartbeat returned, but she remains unconscious, on mechanical ventilation, and receiving treatment in the intensive care unit. Five others are receiving inpatient treatment, while two with less serious injuries are being treated as outpatients. The remaining two were found to be uninjured.
The Incheon Namdong Police Station sought an arrest warrant for A the previous day on suspicion of attempted murder and possession of a weapon in a public place.
[email protected] Kim Hee-seon Reporter