Man with schizophrenia gets 12 years for killing mother

A man in his 20s with a mental illness has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for killing his mother in a brutal attack.

The Seoul Southern District Court's Criminal Division 13, presided over by Judge Seo Bo-min, sentenced the defendant, identified only by his surname Lee, to 12 years in prison Wednesday on charges of matricide. The court also ordered Lee to wear an electronic monitoring device for 10 years and undergo custodial treatment.

"The defendant's method of committing the crime was extremely brutal, causing not only the death of the victim but also severe psychological trauma and hardship for the surviving family members," the court said in its ruling. "There is sufficient reason to impose a strict sentence."

However, the court said it took into account that Lee committed the crime while in a state of diminished mental capacity due to schizophrenia, that he admitted to the offense and that he had no prior criminal record.

Lee was indicted on charges of killing his mother, a woman in her 50s, at the family home in Guro-dong, Seoul, at around 6 p.m. on Dec. 13 last year, using a blunt object and a blade. Police, responding to a call from his father, arrested Lee at the scene.

Investigators confirmed during the probe that Lee had a history of mental illness. Earlier that year, in March, he had been found carrying a blade while exhibiting symptoms of delusions of grandeur and was placed under emergency psychiatric hospitalization by police.

Prosecutors had asked the court to sentence Lee to 15 years in prison, and also sought the 10-year electronic monitoring order and custodial treatment.

"The defendant brutally killed his mother for no particular reason and threatened his father," prosecutors said at the time, adding that they had taken his diminished mental capacity into consideration in determining the sentence sought.