Husband who let wife die covered in maggots again denies wrongdoing at appeal

A man sentenced to 30 years in prison for neglecting his ailing wife until she died — her body infested with maggots — again denied the charges at the opening of his appeal hearing Wednesday.

The Seoul High Court's Fifth Criminal Division, presided over by Judge Kim Yong-seok, held the first appeal hearing for Kim, a former noncommissioned officer in the Army indicted on murder charges.

Kim's defense said it had appealed the first-instance verdict on grounds of factual error, misapplication of law and excessive sentencing.

His attorney argued that the victim had told Kim to "wait, as she would get up on her own," and that she kept herself covered with a blanket, making it difficult for him to gauge the severity of her condition. The attorney added that Kim "had consistently looked after his spouse and had not actively harmed her," and requested a sentencing investigation, saying Kim "reflects on the outcome."

Prosecutors, however, urged the court in their appeal brief to impose the life sentence they had sought at trial, arguing the first-instance sentence of 30 years was too lenient given the victim's suffering and Kim's continued lack of remorse.

Prosecutors also requested two witnesses: Oh Yun-seong, a professor of police administration at Soonchunhyang University, and the victim's mother. They also submitted as evidence crime-scene photographs and video footage seized during a search that had not been admitted at trial because arguments had already closed.

The court plans to hear testimony from the victim's family and expert witnesses on Aug. 25 before closing arguments.

Kim is accused of effectively abandoning his wife for about three months after she became unable to move due to panic disorder and depression beginning last August.

Kim, who was then a staff sergeant with an Army armored unit in Paju, did not call emergency services until Nov. 17 last year, when he reported that his wife had lost consciousness.

When paramedics arrived, the victim's body was covered in filth, and maggots were found on her lower limbs, where skin necrosis had set in from infection and bedsores.

She went into cardiac arrest while being transported to the hospital and died the following day.

Police, alerted by the hospital, referred the case to military police, and military prosecutors indicted Kim on murder charges and detained him. He was discharged from the military after the first-instance verdict and became a civilian.

The first-instance court found that "the victim spent her final days in a wretched state, abandoned for a prolonged period in an extremely unsanitary environment amid the defendant's indifference and neglect," and that "her death could have been prevented with even minimal effort, yet he did not seek medical treatment for her." The court found Kim guilty of murder with contingent intent, ruling that he "persisted in excuses that are difficult to accept and showed no remorse," and sentenced him to 30 years in prison.

After the first-instance sentencing, Kim was discharged from the military and became a civilian.