“Presumed self-inflicted” ... A case nearly closed, but a reinvestigation led a woman in her 80s to confess to killing her husband

[Financial News] The Prosecution Service has sought a lengthy prison sentence for a woman in her 80s who stood trial on suspicion of murdering her husband.
At the closing hearing on the case against A, a woman in her 80s charged with murder and aggravated property damage, held on the 20th before the second criminal division of the Chuncheon District Court’s Gangneung Branch, presiding Judge Lee Bae-geun, the Prosecution Service requested a 15-year prison sentence.
A was indicted on suspicion of strangling her husband, B (81), to death with a specific tool at their home in Samcheok, Gangwon Province, in May 2024.
Early in the investigation, police proposed closing the pre-booking investigation, as B was presumed to have died by strangling himself. Prosecutors, however, called for further investigation, noting that no instrument used for suicide had been found at the scene and that there appeared to be insufficient evidence of suicide.
Police later obtained a confession to murder from A, who had been with B on the day of the incident, during a supplementary investigation. A largely admitted to the crime during the follow-up investigation, and in January last year, police referred her to prosecutors without detention on suspicion of murder.
The facts of the murder case came to light through prosecutors’ request for further investigation, the police’s supplementary investigation, and prosecutors’ own follow-up investigation after the case was referred. According to the indictment, A committed the crime during an argument with B, with whom she had long had a poor relationship.
After receiving the case, prosecutors took into account that A was in her 80s and undergoing hospital treatment, that she had confessed and had responded diligently to investigators’ summonses, as well as the circumstances of the crime. They indicted her without detention last January.
After A was indicted for murder, she was also charged with aggravated property damage for smashing the windows and front door, among other things, of a guesthouse operated by her family with a sledgehammer. A’s side admitted all the charges during the trial.
In closing arguments, A’s lawyer said, “Considering the complexities of the relationship between the defendant and the victim, the fact that she has no significant criminal record, and that the crime was somewhat impulsive, we ask the court to impose a lenient sentence.”
In her final statement, however, A was evasive, saying things such as, “I don’t remember now” and “I can’t think of anything.” The court therefore directed that consideration be given to submitting additional sentencing materials, taking into account that settlement talks with the family did not appear to be progressing smoothly and that the case was serious.
The sentencing hearing will be held at 1:50 p.m. on the 26th of next month.
[email protected] Kim Hee-seon Reporter