A father who beat his 11-year-old son to death with a bat appeals for leniency (South Korea)

The prosecution has sought a 10-year prison sentence for a man in his 40s who beat his 11-year-old son to death with a baseball bat. The father claims that he did it to discipline his son, and has asked for leniency in order to be allowed to raise his two young daughters.
The Incheon District Court held a final hearing for defendant A, a man in his 40s who was arrested and indicted on charges of child abuse resulting in death under the Special Act on the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes.
The prosecution said, "The defendant indiscriminately assaulted his son's entire body except for his head with a baseball bat. The crime is extremely serious," and sought a 10-year prison sentence.
"The victim's physical injuries caused by the assault by the defendant, who is 180 centimeters tall and weighs 100 kilograms, were severe, and the intensity of the assault was also significant," the statement said.
"At the time of the crime, the defendant lost his sense of reason and mercilessly assaulted his son, but at the time of the prosecution's investigation, he said that he had been in a rational state when he hit his son, a story that was at odds with his actions."
The prosecution explained the reason for its request for sentence by saying, "Although the defendant's crime is serious, we took into consideration the fact that the bereaved family does not want him to be punished."
On the other hand, the lawyer for Defendant A stated, "(The son) was an obedient child, but he repeatedly lied and was therefore disrespected by his parents.
"I tried to discipline him out of a sense of responsibility," he said. "My son ran away from place to place, and every time the defendant got angry and caught the victim, he would hit him once, so the number of assaults increased to 20 to 30 times."
"The defendant, who was a baseball player in high school, hit his son while avoiding dangerous parts of his body, and never dreamed that his son would die," he said. "He was responsible for raising his two young daughters.
"I want to be able to take responsibility," he said. Defendant A also said, "As a parent, I disciplined my child because I thought I should correct his mistakes, and that's how I ended up here," and "I'm facing difficulties.
"I want to be able to live the rest of my life for the sake of my two daughters and my family," she said. Ms. B (30s), the wife of Defendant A and the mother of the victim, said, "I don't want my husband to be punished."
"My two daughters are unable to comprehend the current situation, and just last night my youngest daughter saw a man holding a child on TV and said, 'I want to see my dad,'" she said, crying.
Defendant A is on trial on charges of beating his son C (11), a fifth-grader, to death with a baseball bat at an apartment in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, on January 16 this year.
Defendant A called the police the next morning, reporting that his son was not breathing. C, who had bruises all over his body, was taken to the hospital by an ambulance, but died of "traumatic shock."
Ms. B was also investigated by the police on suspicion of aiding and abetting child abuse resulting in death, but was sent to the prosecutor's office after finding no charges were filed. Ms. B was at her sibling's house with her two daughters at the time of her husband's crime.
After returning home, she learned that her husband had assaulted their son, but she went to bed because she did not think the situation was serious, according to the investigation.