Today, we’ll discuss a tragic story that happened last year in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. On May 21, 2022, the police received 112 reports from a studio in Gumi reporting an urgent voice saying, “I’ve been out and out, but the baby isn’t breathing.” The baby was an eight-month-old boy. Unfortunately, when the police arrived, the baby had already passed away.
There was a 142cm long pillow at the scene, which was more than twice the baby’s height, and a baby bottle with formula remaining. The only caregiver, Mother A, 37 years old at the time, told the police investigation that she had “put a bottle in the baby’s mouth and fixed it with a pillow and was outside because she had something to do.” The police believed that Miss A had left her infant, who was supposed to be cared for 24 hours a day, alone, and that the child had suffocated to death on a pillow, so they arrested her on suspicion of child abuse and manslaughter and sent her to the prosecutor’s office.
Later, it was discovered that Miss A had left the baby alone to engage in prostitution. She had accessed a chat application on her mobile phone and posted that she was looking for a sex buyer. A man contacted her, and at around 1:09 p.m., Miss A left the house to meet the buyer, who had driven to her front door. She put the bottle in the hungry child’s mouth and fastened it with a long pillow over his chest, as she worried about her child being alone.
She had messaged an acquaintance, Miss B, who sometimes cared for the child, but Miss B didn’t check the message until 20 minutes later, and she replied, “I’m in the hospital and can’t take care of my child right away.”
Miss A was a single mother who had to take care of everything by herself. Miss A was a single mother with an intellectual disability who became pregnant through prostitution. Her family advised her to get an abortion, and when she refused, they stopped talking to her. She continued to live on about $1000 given monthly by the government as a basic subsistence allowance and single-parent child support after the child’s birth. She spent nearly $270 monthly on diapers and snacks, and $240 on rent. If we add heating, electricity, water, communication bills, food, clothes, and hospital expenses, $1000 is not enough.
Even though there is a childcare system that allows low-income parents to receive childcare support from the government or local governments, Mr. A did not seem to know about it. Miss A had been making a living from prostitution since she was in her 20s, and Mr. A was also employed in various factories and clothing stores but was always kicked out shortly thereafter. He had an intellectual disability, and even the men who hired him for prostitution suspected him of having an intellectual disability.
Mr. A was taken into custody and brought to trial, but the 1st Criminal Division of the Daegu District Law unusually sentenced him to probation rather than imprisonment. The prosecution also abandoned the appeal, and he was released.