Man sentenced to life in prison for killing taxi driver, ex-girlfriend

GOYANG, South Korea, May 19 (Yonhap) -- A district court sentenced a 32-year-old man to life in prison Friday for murdering a taxi driver involved in a car crash and an ex-girlfriend last year.

Lee Ki-young was charged with killing the taxi driver in his late 50s on Dec. 20 after luring him into his house on the pretext of paying compensation money for a collision he caused under the influence of alcohol. He then allegedly hid the victim's body in a closet.

He was also charged with murdering his former girlfriend in her 50s last August and abandoning her body on the banks of a stream in Paju, just northwest of Seoul. The victim's body, however, has not yet been found.

The murder was allegedly aimed at stealing the mobile phone and credit cards of the former girlfriend who owned the apartment they were living in together at the time of the murder.

The Uijeongbu District Court's branch in Goyang, just northwest of Seoul, delivered the life sentence to Lee, along with an order to wear an electric monitoring device for 30 years.

The double homicide case gained widespread attention when Lee confessed to the murder of his ex-girlfriend during police questioning for the murder of the taxi driver.

Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for Lee.

pbr@yna.co.kr
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