A Vietnamese university student was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a Seoul court for abandoning her newborn baby near Dongguk University last year, causing the infant’s death.
The Seoul Central District Court convicted the woman, who is in her 20s, of child abuse resulting in death under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes.
Another Vietnamese national indicted for helping her give birth and taking part in the abandonment was sentenced to eight months of imprisonment, suspended for two years.
The court rejected the woman’s claim that she had no intent to kill the baby, saying the evidence showed she had recognised the possibility that the infant could die if abandoned, even if she did not have a definite intent to kill.
“The infant was alive at the time and, given the level of medical care available in Korea, could have survived if not left outdoors,” the court said yesterday.
It said the child, born healthy, “was deprived by the biological mother of the chance to live before receiving any blessing”, adding that the woman should bear serious responsibility.
The court also found the accomplice grossly negligent for leaving the newborn outside in cold weather.
In deciding the sentence, however, the court said it considered the woman was young at the time of the crime, had gone through an unexpected childbirth and was not found to have had a definite intent to kill the infant.
The woman was accused of abandoning the baby in December in front of a building near Dongguk University’s Seoul campus.
Police and firefighters were dispatched after receiving a report that a newborn had been left inside a paper bag.
The baby was taken to a hospital but later died. — The Korea Herald/ANN
