South Korea’s Supreme Court has handed a 3 year and 6 month sentence to a father accused of child abuse resulting in death by playing ‘airplane’ to comfort his crying baby.

‘Airplane’ is a game in which a parent uses their feet to lift their child into the air.

The father tried to soothe the 8-month-old by lifting and shaking him. But the infant fell and died as the father was holding the infant over his head.

The father reportedly shook the stroller violently back and forth a few times to calm the baby before he decided to play the ‘airplane’ game.

The medical team in charge of handling the case raised the possibility of “shaken baby syndrome” based on serious brain damage without a skull fracture accompanied by retinal bleeds.

Shaken baby syndrome is a serious brain injury caused by forcefully shaking an infant.

At the Supreme Court, the father claimed that he is not guilty because “dropping the baby while playing cannot be seen as abuse and it is almost impossible to expect a death from forcefully shaking the stroller.”

The lower courts handed down a prison sentence as well as 120 hours of clinical sessions for child abuse during the first and second trials, as violently shaking an infant repeatedly is seen as a form of child abuse rather than a typical game.

The Supreme Court confirmed the original verdict Monday.

However, the court dismissed a charge linked to “shaken baby syndrome,” saying that it is unnecessary to look into the syndrome since the court has already ruled the father guilty for forcefully shaking the baby.

By Ahn Sang-yool (koolsangon@heraldcorp.com)