A rooftop of a residential building. This photo is not directly related to the article. [123rf]
A rooftop of a residential building. This photo is not directly related to the article. [123rf]

A woman in her 30s who abandoned her newborn daughter on a building rooftop for five days — fearing her father would discover she had given birth — received a suspended prison sentence on appeal, matching her first-trial outcome.

According to legal sources Saturday, the fifth criminal appeals division of Suwon District Court (presiding judges Kim Haeng-sun, Jeong Yeong-ho and Park Sin-yeong) sentenced the woman, identified only as A, to three years in prison suspended for five years on charges of violating the Child Welfare Act through child abandonment and neglect — identical to the first-instance ruling.

The appeals court acknowledged that "the nature of the crime is very poor and the defendant bears heavy responsibility," but said it considered that she admitted to all charges and showed remorse, that the offense stemmed from fear of her father learning of the birth and from difficult financial circumstances, and that the child had received treatment and recovered.

A was indicted after giving birth to a daughter in October 2024 and leaving the infant on the rooftop of the four-story building where she lived for five days.

The crime came to light when a neighbor found the newborn on the rooftop.

Investigators found that A did not know who the child's biological father was and that she had been living with her parents without steady employment or income following a divorce. She could not bring the baby home because she had not told her family she was pregnant.

Immediately after giving birth, A contacted a church in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, about adoption and left her daughter there, but changed her mind three days later and took the baby back.

Still afraid her father — who did not know about the birth — would discover the child's existence, she placed her daughter in a cardboard box on the rooftop of her building and checked on her over five days, investigators found.

When the infant, identified as B, was found, she was in critical condition with severe hypothermia.

The first-instance court sentenced A to three years in prison suspended for five years, ordered her to complete 40 hours of child abuse prevention education and barred her from working at child-related institutions for five years.

Prosecutors appealed, arguing the sentence was too lenient, but the appeals court rejected the argument and upheld the original ruling.


bbo@heraldcorp.com