Life sentence sought for mother's killer who claimed 'heaven told me to'

Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence for a woman in her 50s accused of murdering her 80-year-old mother in Seongnam, South Korea. The trial is proceeding at the Criminal Division 1 of the Suwon District Court's Seongnam Branch.

The prosecution requested the life sentence without providing separate detailed grounds. The defense, however, pleaded for leniency, arguing that the defendant was in a state of diminished mental capacity due to mental illness at the time of the crime. They claimed she had dropped out of middle school and lived in isolation with her mother, experiencing abnormal behaviors such as hallucinations.

The defense urged the court to consider her weakened ability to discern or make decisions when determining the sentence. In her final statement, the defendant expressed deep remorse, saying, "I am so sorry. I regret it and feel remorseful."

The defendant is accused of fatally assaulting her mother with a helmet and then stabbing her multiple times on June 30 last year in their multi-family home. Police were dispatched after a report of a naked woman wandering the streets. Upon finding her, officers took her home, where they discovered her mother's body.

During the investigation, the defendant reportedly confessed, stating she killed her mother because she made her life difficult and made incoherent remarks like "heaven told me to." She also exhibited self-harming behavior in detention, leading to her temporary hospitalization. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for next month.