A man in his 50s, identified only as A, who is accused of injuring eight people in a knife attack at a large commercial complex in Incheon, arrives at the Incheon District Court in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, on Friday for a pretrial detention hearing. A ruling on whether he will be held in custody is expected later in the afternoon. [Yonhap]
A man in his 50s, identified only as A, who is accused of injuring eight people in a knife attack at a large commercial complex in Incheon, arrives at the Incheon District Court in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, on Friday for a pretrial detention hearing. A ruling on whether he will be held in custody is expected later in the afternoon. [Yonhap]

A man in his 50s accused of wielding a knife and injuring eight people at a large commercial complex in Incheon made his first public appearance before the media Friday.

The suspect, identified only as A, 59, appeared at the Incheon District Court on Friday afternoon for a pretrial detention hearing.

He covered his face as much as possible with a hat and a mask, and his handcuffed hands were concealed beneath a cover.

When reporters asked why he had attacked strangers and whether he had anything to say to the victims, A said, "I am sorry," adding, "I have committed a sin worthy of death."

Asked why he had carried out the attack at that particular commercial building and whether he had planned to flee with 6.8 million won ($5,040), he said, "It was not that I was trying to escape — I felt pressure." He added that he had been advised a hospital would take every last penny from him, so he had set the money aside to donate in an emergency, insisting it was "absolutely not" for fleeing.

When asked what kind of pressure he had been under, A said he had staged a one-man protest for two and a half months over side effects from medical treatment, only to face civil legal pressure in return. "There was pressure from a lawyer saying they would scrape away every last penny through a civil suit," he said.

Asked whether he had carried out the attack to draw attention, A said, "That is not it — it is because I had put myself in a situation where I had no choice but to fall off a cliff." When asked whether he had deliberately targeted vulnerable people, he said, "No."

Presiding Judge Park Yeong-gi of the Incheon District Court began the pretrial detention hearing at 2 p.m. A ruling on whether A will be held in custody is expected later Friday afternoon.

A is accused of attempting to kill 10 people by attacking them with a knife at around 1:48 p.m. Tuesday at the C&C building in Guwol-dong, Namdong-gu, Incheon — a large commercial complex housing a hypermarket, a movie theater and other businesses.

Of the 10 people targeted, eight were classified as injured, including a 19-year-old woman who remained unconscious. The other two escaped unharmed.

During a police investigation, A said he had been dissatisfied with a hospital where he had received treatment for a skin condition, and that the hospital had reported him to police, leading to a criminal investigation against him. He said he committed the attack "to create news" in order to publicize his grievances.

Suspect's first attempted murder conviction came 22 years ago

A man in his 50s, identified only as A, who is accused of injuring eight people in a knife attack at a large commercial complex in Incheon, arrives at the Incheon District Court in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, on Friday for a pretrial detention hearing. A ruling on whether he will be held in custody is expected later in the afternoon. [Yonhap]
A man in his 50s, identified only as A, who is accused of injuring eight people in a knife attack at a large commercial complex in Incheon, arrives at the Incheon District Court in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, on Friday for a pretrial detention hearing. A ruling on whether he will be held in custody is expected later in the afternoon. [Yonhap]

A's first attempted murder conviction, which came 22 years ago, resulted in a suspended sentence after he reached a settlement with the victim.

A went on to commit two more knife-related offenses — including attempted murder and assault — and stood trial each time. The longest sentence he received was four years in prison.

Court records show that in July 2004, the rental home A had been living in was put up for auction, leaving him unable to recover his 9 million won deposit. That September, he tracked down an employee at the real estate agency that had arranged the rental. He hid a knife in his sock, waited for the other staff to leave, then approached the victim from behind and attacked. A first-instance court found that A had been aware of the risk of killing the victim yet proceeded with the attack. It took into account that he had no prior criminal record, that the offense was impulsive and that he showed remorse, and sentenced him to five years in prison.

An appeals court reduced the sentence to two years and six months, suspended for three years, citing A's settlement with the victim.

After his release, A committed another knife offense in 2007. During a drinking session with a woman, identified as B, with whom he was living, the two got into an argument. When B attacked him first with a knife, he wrested it away and turned it on her.

A and B were jointly indicted on charges of violating the Act on the Punishment of Violence, specifically for assault with a weapon. The court sentenced A to one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years, reflecting the fact that B had also attacked and injured A and that neither party wished to press charges against the other.

A and B later registered their marriage but subsequently divorced. In 2015, A was indicted on charges of attempted murder for allegedly trying to kill B and was sentenced to four years in prison.


yul@heraldcorp.com