A 37-year-old man was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday for killing a young man in a hit-and-run car accident after an online manhunt by netizens pressured him to turn himself in.

Cheongju District Court convicted the man, identified only by his surname Heo, of running away after hitting the 29-year-old victim in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, on Jan. 10.

The victim, surnamed Kang, was jaywalking to return home with a bag of custard-filled bread for his pregnant wife at night when Heo’s car ran him over. Kang, who was later nicknamed “cream bread dad,” died on the spot.

“The victim’s jaywalking should be recognized as wrong, but the accused could have avoided the accident if he had been careful enough while driving, given that there were no major obstacles on the road,” the judge said in the ruling.

The accident triggered a wave of public sympathy after it was revealed that Kang called his pregnant wife just before the accident to apologize for buying her a buttercream-stuffed bun, instead of a cake she asked for, because he didn’t have enough money.

Kang’s story immediately prompted a nationwide hunt for the hit-and-run driver, which pressured Heo to turn himself in.

The court recognized that the defendant had sincerely repented and the victim’s family also asked for leniency. But the judge handed down the prison term, taking into account Heo’s attempt to conceal his crime despite being aware that the police had tracked him. 

The defendant claimed that he wasn’t aware of hitting Kang at the time.

Heo admitted that he drove after drinking four bottles of soju, but the court cleared him of drunk driving for lack of evidence. The hit-and-run driver gave himself up nearly three weeks after the accident took place, which made it impossible to gather physical evidence of whether he was driving under the influence of alcohol.

Last month, prosecutors sought a five-year prison sentence for Heo, accusing him of attempting to destroy evidence and failing to reflect on himself. 

Upon the ruling, Heo expressed gratitude to the victim’s family for understanding his circumstances. It is not yet decided whether he will file an appeal, Heo’s lawyer said.

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)