Man gets 20-yr jail term for killing estranged wife with long sword in front of her father

SEOUL, Feb. 16 (Yonhap) -- A 50-year-old man was sentenced to 20 years behind bars Wednesday on charges of stabbing and slashing his estranged wife with a long sword more than 10 times in front of her father, resulting in her death.

The couple, who were in divorce proceedings, were fighting when the husband wielded the sword at their home in western Seoul in September last year. The wife was visiting the home with her father to pick up her belongings.

Jang later turned himself in to the police.

"This is obviously a horrendous and shocking incident, in that the victim's father was at the scene," a judge of the Seoul Southern District Court said, adding the court also took into consideration Jang's unfortunate childhood and the wife's belatedly revealed financial losses from investments in stocks and cryptocurrency.

Prosecutors had demanded life imprisonment for Jang.

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