Prosecution Service appeals five-year sentence for granddaughter in her 20s accused of killing her grandfather, citing factual error and inappropriate sentencing

[Financial News] A university student in her 20s who was indicted on suspicion of stabbing her paternal grandfather to death with a weapon in Seoul’s Dongdaemun District was sentenced to five years in prison at her first trial. The Prosecution Service has appealed, seeking a harsher sentence.
According to legal circles on the 29th, the Seoul Northern District Prosecution Service appealed that day, challenging the first-instance ruling that sentenced Noh (24), a university student indicted on charges of parricide, to five years in prison. It cited factual error and inappropriate sentencing. Noh’s attorney also filed a notice of appeal with the court on the 27th. With both sides appealing, the case will now be reviewed by an appellate court.
Noh was indicted on suspicion of stabbing her paternal grandfather, who was in his 80s, with a paring knife at her home in Dapsimni-dong, Dongdaemun District, Seoul, at around 11:53 a.m. on May 18.
The 11th Criminal Panel of the Seoul Northern District Court, presided over by Judge Choi Gyeong-seo, sentenced Noh to five years in prison on the 23rd. The court acknowledged that Noh stabbed her grandfather with a weapon and caused his death, but said it was difficult to conclude that she intended to kill him. It therefore applied the charge of causing the death of a lineal ascendant through bodily injury instead of parricide.
Whether Noh intended to kill was a major issue at trial. The court found that although the paring knife used in the crime had been kept in Noh’s room, the fact that she had been living and even eating there to avoid her grandparents’ arguments meant it could not conclude that she had prepared the weapon in advance with the intention of killing him.
Records also showed that before the incident, Noh had searched an artificial intelligence (AI) app for ways to control urges to assault someone and for information related to murder. However, as she had made few queries and the responses advised her to control her impulses and consult a psychiatrist, the court found that the records alone were insufficient to support an intent to kill.
The court also based its decision on the fact that during an argument with her grandfather, Noh went into a room, then approached him again and swung the weapon toward his shoulder. It also took into account that after the incident, Noh called emergency services (119), performed CPR under paramedics’ instructions, and later admitted to the crime during police questioning.
The first-instance court said the victim’s death was a grave outcome and the family’s suffering would be difficult to alleviate. However, taking into account that Noh had faced difficulties including verbal abuse and physical assault by the victim, that she had no prior convictions, and that her family did not want her punished, it sentenced her to five years in prison—the statutory minimum for causing the death of a lineal ascendant through bodily injury.
At the earlier closing-arguments hearing, the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors’ Office (now the Seoul Northern District Prosecution Service) argued that Noh intended to kill, charged her with parricide, and sought a 20-year prison sentence.

[email protected] Seo Ji-yoon Reporter