Cho Jae-bok, suspect in the 'Daegu carrier case' [Daegu Metropolitan Police Agency]
Cho Jae-bok, suspect in the 'Daegu carrier case' [Daegu Metropolitan Police Agency]

Cho Jae-bok, 26, is on trial on charges of beating his mother-in-law to death and abandoning her body in a suitcase. Prosecutors have now alleged he also killed his younger sister when they were children.

At a hearing Thursday before the 13th Criminal Division of the Daegu District Court, presiding judge Chae Hui-in, a prosecutor submitted related evidence and said Cho had beaten his younger sister — who was 2 at the time — to death when he was 4. The prosecutor added that Cho "has a long history of violent behavior, including multiple juvenile offenses."

Prosecutors said they discovered a record of the sister's unnatural death from 22 years ago while calling Cho's biological father to verify details of his violent tendencies.

At the time, prosecutors said, they conveyed a recommendation that Cho and his family continue receiving psychiatric treatment.

Cho immediately protested, asking, "Are you saying I killed my own sister?" The court instructed him to submit any rebuttal in writing.

Prosecutors also submitted as evidence a vacuum cleaner with a broken handle found inside the home where Cho's mother-in-law was killed, saying the handle had snapped during the assault.

Cho rebuffed the claim, saying the handle broke when he was disciplining his dog for biting.

The court scheduled the closing arguments hearing for Sept. 17 at around 10:40 a.m.

Cho was indicted on charges of beating his mother-in-law, a woman in her 50s identified only as A, for an extended period at an officetel in Jung-gu, Daegu, in March, killing her, then placing her body in a suitcase and abandoning it along the Sincheon riverside in Buk-gu.

He also faces charges of subjecting his wife and mother-in-law to abuse including assault, surveillance and financial control.


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