Korea noise nuisance leads to attempted murder

SEOUL — A Incheon man will serve 22 years in prison for the attempted murder of three members of a neighbouring family over noise complaints, after he dropped his appeal, according to legal professionals and news reports Thursday.

The Incheon District Court ordered the man to serve 22 years in prison and to wear a GPS-equipped electronic monitoring anklet for 10 years in the first trial in May. The ruling was confirmed as he withdrew the appeal, he filed with the Supreme Court earlier this year.

Only identified by his surname Lee, the man was indicted on charges of attempting to murder his neighbours in December 2021.

On Nov. 15, 2021, the man in his 50s allegedly burst into the neighbour’s house on the third floor of a residential building in Incheon, west of Seoul, and jabbed the family members.

The mother, in her 40s at the time, was stabbed in the neck and received surgery for a cerebral infarction. The husband and daughter also suffered severe injuries that took five weeks to heal.

The 50-year-old attacker lived on the fourth floor of the apartment complex and had complained to the family about noise since moving into the house three months earlier.

During court hearings, he admitted trying to murder the mother but denied trying to kill the father and daughter. The court dismissed his arguments and convicted the man of trying to kill all three family members.

Police were criticized for their response to the knife attack. Officers were dispatched to the scene when a disturbance was reported, but when one officer took the husband to talk to him outside, the man began the knife attack, and the other officer fled.

After the incident caused controversy over the police’s bungled action, the two officers were dismissed. The two have filed an appeal after being dismissed from duty. They were also indicted without detention last month for dereliction of duty.

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