A man in his 50s who again assaulted and threatened his elderly mother during a repeat-offense period has been sentenced to prison.
According to the legal community Tuesday, Judge Lim Jin-su of the Cheongju District Court's Criminal Division 2 recently sentenced A, 58, to one year and six months in prison. He had been indicted and detained on charges of assaulting a lineal ascendant, threatening a lineal ascendant, property destruction, and trespassing.
A was put on trial for grabbing the collar of his mother B, 89, shaking her, and striking her chest with his fist when he visited her home in Oksan-myeon, Heungdeok-gu, Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, on Sept. 12 last year.
A, who had been drinking with B since the previous day, demanded more money to buy alcohol after being scolded over family matters. When B refused, he committed the act. The drinking continued the next day, during which he hurled insults at B over not doing the dishes and also made remarks threatening to harm her.
In May of the same year, A broke the lock at the entrance to his older brother's farm shed in Oksan-myeon, Heungdeok-gu, and damaged a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera worth 220,000 won. He also entered the farm shed eight times without permission. When an argument broke out with his older brother in front of the shed, A repeatedly shoved and threw punches at C, 56, the nephew of his older brother's wife, who had stepped in to break up the dispute.
A was found to have repeated such behavior shortly after his release from prison, having served time in 2023 for offenses including injuring a lineal ascendant.
A insisted on the legitimacy of his act of destroying the lock, saying, "I built the farm shed together with my older brother and managed and lived in it myself," but the court rejected this.
"The defendant assaulted and threatened his aged mother, and the nature of the crime is grave," Judge Lim said. "He has not been forgiven by the victims, and the damage has not been recovered."
He continued, "He has many prior convictions and a record of being punished for the same type of crime," but added, "I set the sentence taking into account that the mother does not want the defendant punished, and that the defendant belatedly acknowledged the crime against his mother."
A appealed the ruling, refusing to accept it.
