Attack On Titan Editor Sentenced To 11 Years In Prison For Wife's Death; More To Know

Former Kodansha editor Park Jung-hyun sentenced to 11 years for wife's 2016 murder. The Tokyo High Court found his testimony unreliable amid shifting stories and conflicting evidence.

By Shovan Roy

Updated on Jul 22, 2024 | 03:10 PM IST | 156K

Attack On Titan Editor Sentenced To 11 Years In Prison For Wife's Death (PC: IMDb)

Trigger warning: This article contains reference to a tragic death.

Park Jung-hyun, a former editor at Kodansha was found guilty of murdering his wife and has been sentenced to prison for 11 years. The Tokyo High Court gave the verdict on July 18, 2024, after a retrial. At his home in Bunkyo City, Japan, Park strangled his wife who was then aged only 38.

Shifting stories and evidence

The case became complex due to the different narratives given by Mr. Park about what occurred that night. His initial story was that she had fallen down the stairs but later he told them it was a suicide though he did not tell ambulance attendants this. Her body was discovered at the foot of the staircase and her death was attributed to suffocation.

In another version during trial, he claimed that his wife had a knife and acted violently. He explained blood stains in the bedroom away from where the body was found by saying that he had to restrain her because she wanted to kill him too. He said that afterward, he heard something outside before finding out that his wife had killed herself.

Court's decision and family reaction

The court rejected what Park said just as unbelievable. The judge observed, “It is too sudden and unnatural that the wife lost consciousness and then moved around so much that she made a noise, and then committed suicide.”

However, Park still maintains his innocence and plans on appealing against this ruling. On behalf of Park, his lawyer argued that though there was no commensurate evidence of murder; instead it relied upon faulty testimony.

Park's mother lamented thus: “My son got along well with his wife, and he cared for his children. My children believed that their father would come home today, but I don't know how to explain the ruling to them. It's too cruel.”

Career and legal battles

He had worked with Kodansha since 1999 on popular series such as Attack on Titan or The Seven Deadly Sins. In June 2016 Mr. Park was appointed as an editor at Weekly Morning.

This was the third trial for Park ordered by the Supreme Court which had found that there were parts of evidence that were not thoroughly looked at in previous trials.

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