Woman buried alive: 13 years in prison for perpetrator

Young Sook An was buried alive in a forest in 2022 – the little woman was only able to free herself from her grave after twelve hours. Luckily for the woman, the hole her estranged husband threw her into wasn’t very deep. Now defendant Chae Kyong An had to answer in court.

Victim still suffers from violence
“After that day, mine and my children’s lives were destroyed,” the violence victim explained during the trial. “I have to live with emotional trauma and health problems for the rest of my life.” The suspect pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder. The judge ultimately imposed the maximum sentence: the former soldier was sentenced to 165 months in prison and then three years of community detention.

It is difficult to imagine what Young Sook An had to endure. She had wanted to divorce her husband, who had physically assaulted her several times. But during a conversation in which she wanted to discuss the divorce and also removed her children from the home, Chae Kyong An decided that the mother of two children had to die because she should not receive any of his assets.

After being attacked in her home, the woman was able to make an emergency call using her smartwatch, but because she was gagged she could not say what had happened. When police arrived on the scene, the man had already tied the woman’s hands behind her back and driven her into a forest.

The woman lay in the grave for twelve hours
All her pleas to let her go and think of their two children came to nothing: after stabbing her several times in the chest, he put his ex in a shallow hole and covered her with earth, branches and a tree trunk. Over the next twelve hours, the woman finally managed to break free from her bonds and dig herself out. She ran to a nearby house and asked for help.

The suspect has mentioned post-traumatic stress disorder
In court, the lawyer explained that his client was homeless at the time of the crime and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. He was “overmedicated and undertreated,” the attorney said. He would regret the attack every day. However, the judge showed more sympathy for the victim: there were no words “to describe the physical suffering and the fear and pain of believing for twelve hours that you would lose your life and might never see your children again.” He now hopes that the woman can heal emotionally and mentally.