The pastor and his wife who killed their 13-year-old daughter by violently beating her were respectively given 20 and 15 years in prison, Thursday. The delivered sentences were five and three years higher, respectively, than the prosecution had initially sought.
The Incheon district court on Thursday said the 47-year-old pastor and his 40-year-old wife, admitted to their crimes and showed remorse, however, they continued to blame the victim’s alleged theft of church offerings as triggering the crime, casting doubt over the sincerity of their repentance.
(Yonhap)
On March 17, 2015, the couple raised a wooden stick against the victim. They testified to having beaten her for roughly seven hours between 5:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., planting some 50-70 strikes on her palms, the back of her calves and thighs. The stick snapped amid the violent beating.
An autopsy carried out by the National Forensic Services determined the victim died of hypovolemic shock.
The victim’s body was discovered 11 months after her death in February in a mummified state inside a small room in the pastor’s house, covered by a thin blanket.
The couple told the police they believed she would be resurrected with sufficient prayers.
Up to the day of his crime, the pastor had worked as an adjunct professor at a theology university after receiving overseas education in Germany.
By Lim Jeong-yeo (
kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)
