Father who beat 11-year-old son to death with baseball bat gets reduced sentence
Published: 01 Oct. 2025, 16:01
![[KOREA JOONGANG DAILY]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/10/01/b28193b2-4720-4bd9-a67b-025f634d9ab4.jpg)
[KOREA JOONGANG DAILY]
A father in his 40s who beat his 11-year-old son to death with a baseball bat received a reduced sentence at the appellate level, the Seoul High Court said Wednesday.
The court overturned the lower court’s ruling that had handed the man 12 years in prison and instead sentenced him to 11 years on charges of causing death by child abuse under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes.
The court also ordered the man to complete a 40-hour child‑abuse treatment program and barred him from working at child‑related institutions for five years.
The court said “it is hard to gauge the extent of the suffering the victim child must have endured,” and that the nature of the crime and the degree of blameworthiness were severe. The court added, however, that it accepted the defendant’s claim that the original sentence was excessive after taking into account his remorse, previous criminal record and other sentencing factors, and reduced the term accordingly.
Prosecutors say the father assaulted his son on Jan. 16 at an apartment in Yeonsu District, Incheon. The victim, a fifth-grader, was taken to a general hospital by paramedics the next day with bruises all over his body, but was pronounced dead from “traumatic shock.”
The father, about 180 centimeters (5.9 feet) tall and weighing about 100 kilograms (220 pounds), is reported to be a former high school baseball player. The man reportedly called 119 in the early hours on the morning of Jan. 17, saying, “My son is not breathing.”
At the April 22 sentencing hearing, the defendant’s lawyer urged leniency, saying the former high school baseball player had avoided hitting vital areas and never thought the child would die, and asked the court to allow him to remain available to care for his two young daughters.
BY JANG GU-SEUL [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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