[Getty Images Bank]
[Getty Images Bank]

Prosecutors have sought a life sentence for a woman in her 30s who beat her 8-month-old son to death with a TV remote control.

At a final hearing Tuesday at the Ansan Branch of Suwon District Court, presided over by Judge Park Ji-young of the second criminal division, prosecutors asked the court to sentence defendant A to life in prison on charges of child abuse murder under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes. They also requested a five-year probation order.

"The defendant denies intent, but it was entirely foreseeable that striking an 8-month-old infant on the head could result in death, and she acted anyway," prosecutors said in explaining the sentencing request.

A's defense attorney acknowledged that the child died as a result of the assault but argued there was no intent to kill.

"We accept that the victim died as a result of the defendant's actions," the attorney said, "but the evidence presented by the prosecution is insufficient to establish that she intended to kill at the time of the offense." The defense again denied criminal intent.

In her final statement, A said she had been tormented by guilt over sending her child "to heaven" and asked the court for leniency. "I will become a warmer mother than anyone to my first child, as an act of atonement to my second," she said.

A was indicted on charges of striking her son, identified as B, on the head with a TV remote control at her home in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, on April 10, because he would not stop crying. B died four days after the assault.

Investigators found that after the beating, A took B to a nearby pediatric clinic when he continued to cry. Medical staff advised her to seek care at a larger hospital, but she returned home without taking any further action.

A general hospital in Bucheon also recommended that B be admitted for treatment, but A did not hospitalize him.

When his condition worsened, B was transferred to the emergency room of that hospital three days later and died the following day.

A's sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 27.


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