“Afraid she might meet another man”... Man in his 40s who poured boiling water on Thai wife’s face gets reduced sentence on appeal

[Financial News] A Korean man in his 40s who poured boiling water on the face of his sleeping Thai wife, causing severe burns, has had his sentence reduced on appeal.
According to Newsis on the 28th, the Criminal Division 1 of the Uijeongbu District Court, presided over by Judge Jeong Do-yeong, overturned the lower court’s ruling sentencing a man in his 40s, identified as A, to three years and six months in prison for special bodily injury, and sentenced him to three years.
The panel explained its sentencing decision, saying, “The defendant reached a settlement with the victim on terms including payment of 15 million won, and the victim is seeking leniency,” and, “Taking all sentencing factors into consideration, we find the lower court’s sentence too severe and therefore unjustified.”
A was sent to trial on suspicion of pouring water boiled in an electric kettle on the face, neck and other areas of his Thai wife in her 30s, B, who was asleep in an apartment in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, on December 3 last year. B was reportedly left with second-degree burns and other injuries as a result of A’s crime.
Immediately after the incident, A took B to a hospital specializing in burn treatment in Seongdong-gu, Seoul. The hospital, suspecting assault, reported the case to police at around 9 p.m. that day.
B’s side claimed that immediately after the incident, A said, “I wanted to make your face ugly because I was afraid you might meet another man.”
Early in the investigation, A denied all the allegations, claiming, “I accidentally spilled the boiling water when I fell.” At trial, however, he admitted to all the allegations in the indictment and tearfully pleaded for leniency.
The case came to light after B shared details of what had happened to her through a Thai acquaintance’s social media account, and local media outlets, including the Thai outlet The Thaiger, reported on it.
Prosecutors had sought a three-year prison term for A, but the first-trial court sentenced him to three years and six months—more than the prosecution had requested—saying, “He committed a cruel act that ordinary people would find difficult to imagine: after boiling water, he poured it over his sleeping spouse’s face.”
[email protected] Kim Su-yeon Reporter