82-Year-Old Woman Sentenced To Life In Jail For Fatally Poisoning 2 Elderly Neighbors According To Reports
An 82-year-old woman, surnamed Park, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a district court on Friday after the woman allegedly poisoned six of her neighbors, killing two of them.
Korea Joongang Daily reported Saturday that Daegu District Court acknowledged most of the prosecutors' assertions against the accused woman, who they said combined pesticide into a bottle of soda last July 14 in Sangju. Reports have revealed that the suspect allegedly intended to kill six of her neighbors by poisoning them.
Two elderly women, 82 and 89 years old, died after drinking the poisoned soda.
"The defendant made the local community collapse because of her actions, which took away precious lives," the court says during the deliberation.
Further reports have revealed that the ruling of the district court was in line with the demand of the prosecutors for Park's lifetime imprisonment.
"This is a case that has thrown up questions about the value of life," a prosecutor states during closing arguments.
On the other hand, Park's defense team countered the ruling and said that the evidence was indirect.
"In this case, there is not a single piece of direct evidence [to hold the defendant accountable for the killings]," the defense says during its closing arguments. "All the evidence presented is indirect and full of reasonable doubt."
Park was charged with murder for killing the two elderly women last July. Aside from that, four others were left injured after drinking the poisoned soda.
Despite this, Pare "has shown no signs of remorse about the injuries and deaths," the district court says.
"The local community has been shattered due to the defendant taking the lives of the victims," is says, as noted by Korea Times Saturday.
Prosecutors say the poisoning came a day after Park and her neighbors had an argument during a card game.
"Is Park the suspect because it seems unlikely that another person could be the suspect?" Park's lawyer says. "If the defendant is the suspect because of biased investigation, then the prosecution should have had the defendant psychiatrically evaluated."
