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Father who beat one-month-old son to death, abandoned body sentenced to 13 years in prison

Published: 25 Mar. 2026, 16:24

About 10 funeral wreaths calling for severe punishment of a father standing trial on charges of killing a child through abuse are placed in front of the main gate of Daegu District Court in Suseong District, Daegu, on the morning of March 25. [JOONGANG ILBO]

A court sentenced a father to 13 years in prison for beating his one-month-old son to death and abandoning the body.

The Daegu District Court sentenced the father, who had been arrested and indicted under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes, on charges of killing a child through abuse at a hearing on Wednesday morning.

The court also ordered him to complete 80 hours of a psychological treatment program for child abusers and barred him from working at child-related institutions for 10 years.

“The text messages exchanged between the defendant’s wife and her friend show signs of habitual abuse,” the court said. “It appears that he violently struck his 42-day-old son, who weighed only 4 kilograms [8.81 pounds] and was completely incapable of resistance, because the baby was crying and fussing, causing fatal brain swelling. The nature of the crime is grave.”

“It is questionable whether the defendant truly feels remorse,” the court said.

The court considered the fact that the defendant did not commit the crime with the direct intent to kill and that he turned himself in, as well as the high degree of public condemnation the case drew in determining the sentence.

The father was accused of killing his son by striking the infant on the head at his home in Guji-myeon, Dalseong County, Daegu, on Sept. 10, 2025, because the child would not sleep and kept crying. He was also accused of dumping the body at a nearby hillside two days later.

A Daegu District Court office [YONHAP]

The father turned himself in on Sept. 13, three days after the crime. He reportedly told the police that he hit the baby once with the palm of his hand because the child would not sleep and kept fussing, claiming he had killed the infant by mistake.

Police searched the area based on the report and found the baby’s body later that evening.

“My wrong actions led to this outcome for my son,” the father said in his final statement on March 4. “I will live the rest of my life, wherever I am, in remorse.”

About 10 funeral wreaths were placed outside the Daegu District Court on Wednesday, mourning the baby and calling for severe punishment for the father. Messages on the wreaths read, “Permanently banish the murderer who killed his own child from society,” and “Baby, we’re sorry we couldn’t protect you.”

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 JUNG-SEOK [[email protected]]