Bedridden woman left to die was maggot-infested while still alive, doctor testifies at husband's murder trial

A bedridden woman allegedly left to die by her husband was riddled with maggots while she was still alive, a doctor testified Tuesday at the man’s murder trial.

“It was unlike anything I had seen in my 15 years of practice,” said the emergency physician, who treated the woman when she was brought to a hospital in Goyang, Gyeonggi, in November last year.

“There were so many maggots that we tried to wash them away with saline before moving her to a ward,” the doctor said. “But no matter how much we cleaned, they kept appearing. We couldn’t remove them all, so we had to wrap her in bandages on the spot.”

His testimony also contradicted the man’s claim that he had not recognized the severity of his wife’s condition because of air fresheners in their home.

“The treatment room was filled with the stench of a decaying body,” the doctor said. “The smell clung to her clothes and her entire body.”

Military prosecutors have indicted the man, an Army staff sergeant, on charges of murder for allegedly failing to provide medical care or protection to his wife for more than three months after she became bedridden in August last year due to panic disorder and depression.

During that time, she was left alone for extended periods and subsisted largely on snacks, bread and juice, according to testimony presented in court.

She eventually developed severe bedsores that progressed to necrosis without treatment, ultimately leading to her death.

The husband sought medical help only on Nov. 17, when he called emergency services, saying his wife was “going in and out of consciousness.” She was taken to the emergency room that day.

Although he reportedly collapsed to the floor of the hospital in tears when his wife was admitted for treatment, the attending physician told the court that he questioned the sincerity of the reaction.

Suspecting severe neglect based on the extent of her injuries, hospital staff notified police. The sergeant was initially arrested on suspicion of abandonment causing injury, but the charge was upgraded to murder after his wife died the following day.

When pressed by prosecutors over whether he had noticed any unusual smells, the sergeant said he had detected only “a smell like stagnant water.”

The trial is scheduled to conclude on May 12.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

BY KIM EUN-BIN, MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]