Defendant sentenced to 12 years in prison for causing death of a man, with her two daughters inside the car (Graphic by Park Ji-young/The Korea Herald) A mother of two who caused a fatal drunk driving accident has been sentenced to 12 years in prison, as court convicted her for abusing her two daughters on top of causing a man's death.The Hongseong district of the Daejeon District Court handed the defendant a guilty verdict for the Jan. 4 accident, when she ran over a motorcycle rider in his 20s with her car in Hongseong-gun, South Chungcheong District. Her charges included death by dangerous driving, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, child abuse, and fleeing the scene after causing a fatal accident.Police found that the defendant did not take any measures to help the victim, even complaining to the victim's fiance, "You startled my kids!"The court held her responsible for emotional child abuse, and ordered her to 80 hours of child abuse treatment. She was held responsible for scaring her children, aged 6 and 4, as she drove dangerously while both of them were inside the vehicle.She drove her vehicle at 178 kilometers per hour despite the road having a 60 kph limit."(The defendant) has the duty to protect her children, yet she drove violently and caused a death by car accident. She inflicted severe damage on the children's mental health and development, which is also a severe offense.The Korean Child Abuse Prevention Association welcomed the ruling, saying putting a child at risk through drunk driving should be punished regardless of causing an accident.This marks one of the increasing number of cases where a person who drove recklessly in the presence of children is also accused of child abuse. Law enforcement officials say even without direct act of abuse, endangering a child by reckless or drunk driving could constitute abusing the child.A similar case is under investigation for a drunk driver in Daejeon, who caused an accident on June 21 with two of her children in the vehicle.