The murder of relatives in Seo-gu, Daegu Metropolitan City in 2021

 At dawn on August 30, 2021, two brothers, aged 18 and 16, brutally stabbed their 77-year-old grandmother and attempted to murder their 94-year-old grandfather at a house in Bisan-dong, Seo-gu, Daegu, because they did not want to listen to their parents' nagging.

On August 29, 2021, after their grandmother nagged their brother about "playing too many games," "why don't you use your meal card to buy something to eat at a convenience store," and "if you're over 20, go out and live," at around 10:26 p.m., the brother decided to murder her and sent a text to his brother on KakaoTalk saying, "Do you want to kill your grandmother? You'll kill yourself while having fun.

"2021 On August 30, 2021, at around 0:10 a.m., the ringleader, the elder brother, stabbed the grandmother 61 times all over her body with a deadly weapon, then casually took a shower and sprayed perfume to remove the smell of blood.After killing the grandmother, the elder brother threatened the grandfather, saying, "Since she's gone, do you want to go with her?" The grandfather begged for his life and pleaded with him to send her to the hospital first. 

The grandfather then called the police and said, "My grandson stabbed my wife and won't let me be near her." The police and paramedics were called. The perpetrators, teenage brothers, were detained on the night of August 31, 2021. After being detained, the brothers claimed to have committed the crime because their grandmother was nagging them and making them run errands.

At the time of the incident, the younger brother was in high school but had been expelled, while the older brother was in high school.The brothers' parents divorced in August 2012, when the brothers were 9 and 7 years old, and lost contact with them, leaving them with their grandparents. The older brother reportedly became withdrawn and both he and his younger brother developed severe anxiety and anger management disorders. At the time of the incident, the older brother was attending a special class at school and was forcibly admitted to Daegu Medical Center in January 2020, where he was treated in a psychiatric hospital for three months, and was prescribed antidepressants, but he did not take them consistently. 

The younger brother appears to have similar symptoms, but according to his defense attorney, he also has poor situational awareness and was expelled from school for threatening a teacher with a chair and swearing. The brothers are physically fit and strong, but they were not able to adapt to school life and often got into trouble, and their grandmother chased them to the school and police station. 

The neighbors didn't know the details of their mental illnesses and thought they were just troublemakers in the family. Of the grandparents who raised the siblings, their grandmother was declared physically disabled in September 2007 and their grandfather in February 2001. The family was designated as a basic needs family in 2013 and received 1.85 million won per month. The siblings were reportedly mainly cared for by their grandmother due to their grandfather's age and physical disability. 

According to the residents, the brothers who committed this incident were often verbally abusive and angry with their grandmother. The house where the brothers and their grandparents lived was reportedly very old and in poor condition, covering an area of 29.2 square meters and 36 years old at the time of the crime.

During the investigation, it was found that the older brother was not remorseful for the crime, saying that he wanted to take advantage of South Korea's lack of the death penalty to repeat his prison life or that he was sorry that he couldn't watch webtoons.

On September 23, the older brother was charged with capital murder and the younger brother was charged with aiding and abetting capital murder. The elder brother told the prosecution, "I was nagging my grandmother for playing a lot of cell phone games. It was further revealed that the younger brother had closed the window to prevent the grandmother's screams from escaping, and that the older brother had searched the Internet for the method of the crime.

3. The trial

On October 28, the prosecution requested life imprisonment for the elder brother and 12 years of hard labor and 6 years of short-term imprisonment for the younger brother. 

On January 20, 2022, the trial court sentenced the elder brother to 12 years of hard labor and 7 years of short-term imprisonment and the younger brother to 2 years and 6 months of probation. Although the offenses were very serious, the court found that they were rehabilitable given their disadvantaged upbringing and first-time offenses. 

Therefore, the older brother is serving time in prison. In contrast, the younger brother was released on probation. The prosecution and the older brother appealed the first instance decision through their defense lawyers, while the younger brother did not appeal. 

Since the incident, the grandfather has been living in a nursing home in Western China and was taken away by his daughter who lives in another region, while the younger brother lives with his mother and maternal grandmother. 

On April 11, 2022, at the second trial, the prosecution asked for life imprisonment for the elder brother and 12 years of long-term imprisonment and 6 years of short-term imprisonment for the younger brother. On May 12, 2022, the second trial court rejected the appeal and upheld the first trial sentence. The sentences were subsequently affirmed without appeal.