Woman wearing police-issued safety smartwatch stabbed to death; civil servant husband arrested

A woman in her 30s who had reported domestic violence to police five times and been issued a safety smartwatch was fatally stabbed by her husband.

Police arrested a man in his 30s, identified only as A, on murder charges and are investigating the case, according to the Gwangju Gyeonggi Police Station and Yonhap.

A, a civil servant, is suspected of stabbing his wife, identified as B, multiple times with a bladed weapon on an outdoor stairwell of a multifamily residential building in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, at around 7:17 a.m. Tuesday, before fleeing on a motorcycle.

B, who had a history of domestic violence reports, used her police-issued smartwatch to call for emergency help. She was transported to a hospital but died from her injuries. A young daughter who was present at the scene was not physically harmed.

Through closed-circuit television footage and communications tracing, police tracked A to a motel in Jangan-gu, Suwon, where he was found attempting to take his own life at around 11:40 a.m. — roughly four hours and 20 minutes after the attack — and was taken into custody.

Investigators found that B had filed five reports and sought police counseling over domestic violence by A between March last year and recently.

The Suwon Jangan Police Station, which has jurisdiction over B's residence, conducted its own investigation in May and referred A to prosecutors on domestic violence charges.

B subsequently moved out of the family home with her daughter and had been living at the multifamily building in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province. She filed for divorce last month and had also obtained a temporary protection order from a court, including a no-contact provision.

B had consulted police after expressing concern that her address may have been exposed during the delivery of divorce court documents, and was issued the smartwatch as a result.

Police believe A located B's residence through the court documents and went there with premeditated intent. They plan to seek an arrest warrant after completing their investigation into the full circumstances of the case.