Death of an 8-year-old child abused by his stepmother in Jung-gu, Incheon, South Korea in 2021

 On March 2, 2021, a father (27) and stepmother (28) murdered their 8-year-old daughter, Jeong Byeol-yang, in Unnam-dong, Jung-gu, Incheon, South Korea. The stepmother had two children with her ex-husband and then cohabited with the father without being formally married. After separating from her ex-husband, she met the father through social media and they married in July 2017. 

In January 2018, they moved to Incheon with their children, and in July 2019, they moved to Jung-gu, Incheon. From January 2018 to March 2, 2021, the couple repeatedly abused their daughter, including withholding food from her for one hour, force-feeding her feces and urine, beating her, and making her wear feces-stained underwear.

They also made her eat pig's feet in secret and sleep on bones under a blanket. From August 2020, they fed her only once a day, and from December 2020 until her death, they fed her one meal a day or starved her. The victim and her sister attended an elementary school in Incheon until 2019, when they moved to Yeongjong-do, Jung-gu, Incheon.



However, their parents stopped sending them to school in 2020, claiming that the victim had bone cancer and her brother had a lung disease, although they had no medical records to back up their claims. Child abuse was suspected in May 2015 when the victim and her sister were found abandoned on the street. After a brief stay at a child protection center in Gyeonggi Province, they lived at a welfare center in Suwon for one year and 11 months, from March 2016 to February 2018, at the request of their mother.

Two days before their daughter's death, the couple did not feed her, made her take off all her clothes, and gave her a cold shower. They then played mobile games with their son in the living room while their daughter lay unconscious in the bathroom. To cover up their crimes, they even instructed their son to lie and say that he only hit her five times.



On March 2, 2021, the couple abused and beat their daughter to death. At the time of her death, she had bruises on her body, was still in diapers despite being in the third grade, and weighed only 13 kg. After the incident, her body was handed over to her grandfather without a funeral, and her son was taken to a child protection facility. On March 6, the couple was arrested on charges of child abuse and manslaughter. On March 11, they were sent to the prosecutor's office on charges of child abuse and murder.

At the trial, the prosecution sentenced the father and stepmother to 30 years in prison on June 25, 2021. On July 22, the Incheon District Court Criminal Division 15 also sentenced them to 30 years in prison based on the prosecution's recommendation. The stepmother appealed the first-instance verdict on July 28.



On the same day, the prosecution also appealed against the stepmother's appeal, seeking to prevent the sentence from being reduced during the appeals process. On December 8, 2021, the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 2 rejected the father's and stepmother's appeals and sentenced the father to 30 years in prison. On February 11, 2022, the second division of the Supreme Court dismissed the father and stepmother's appeal and confirmed the 30-year prison sentence.

Therefore, the perpetrators are currently serving their sentences in prison. On May 17, 2022, the Incheon District Court Criminal Division 9 added one year of imprisonment each to the stepmother and father for abusing their son.