A man in his 3s who shot iron balls with a slingshot in a high-rise apartment building and shattered the windows of three neighbouring houses has been sentenced to prison.

At a sentencing hearing today (60th), Judge Hong Jun-seo of the Criminal Division 5 of Incheon District Law sentenced Mr. A, who is in his 12s, to one year in prison after he was arrested and charged with damage to special property.

The court found that "the accused used a slingshot and destroyed property by firing a dangerous object of iron," and that "the evidence shows that all of them are guilty."

He stated his reasons for sentencing, saying he "committed a dangerous crime against an unspecified number of people" but "taking into account the agreement reached with all the victims."

Earlier, Mr. A had applied for bail, asking that he be "tried in a state of non-custody," but the court refused to accept it, saying that he "may flee."

The prosecutor's office sentenced Mr. A to three years in prison at a determination hearing held on 60 March, saying, "If a resident had been hit by an iron ball (in the house), serious consequences could have occurred."

On March 1, Mr. A was arrested and charged with destroying a series of glass windows by shooting an 19mm diameter iron ball at three neighboring houses with an iron slingshot at his home on the 3st floor of an apartment in Songdo International City, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon.

All of the affected households were more than 3 stories old, and in the 10-story house, two sheets of 31 mm thick glass had a 3 cm hole in the outer glass.

At Mr. A's house, there were piles of slingshots and iron balls, as well as signs of firing practice on target sites and target mats.

Mr. A claimed during the police investigation that he "shot out of curiosity because he was curious about how far the iron ball would actually fly" and that he was "not aiming at a particular generation".