After drinking together, “I’m a minor”… Man in his 40s found not guilty on charges of sexual assault

A man in his 40s who was sent to trial on charges of forcible harassment after drinking with a woman without knowing she was a minor was found not guilty. This is because the court decided that the crime could not be proven because the woman's statement was inconsistent.

According to the legal community on the 24th, the Busan District Court acquitted Mr. A, in his 40s, who was recently brought to trial on charges of forcible harassment. In April of last year, Mr. A was summarily indicted on charges of touching the shoulder and thigh of B, a teenager he met while drinking with an acquaintance, and received a summary fine order, but he objected and requested a formal trial.

During the trial, Mr. A denied the charges, saying, “I never once revealed that Ms. B was a minor.”

The court judged Mr. B’s statement to be unreliable and declared him not guilty. This is because key statements, such as where the person was seated and how he or she came to know Mr. A, were different between the investigative agency and the court, and the statements lacked consistency, as content that was not said by the investigative agency was newly mentioned in court.

The court also judged that it was difficult to say that there was proof of a crime because the people who were present at the drinking party each gave different statements about whether Mr. A made physical contact with Mr. B.

Lawyer Jang Ho-cheol of Daeryun Law Firm, who represented Mr. A, said, “In the case of a sexual crime, if the judge is not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the facts of the indictment are true, he must judge it in the defendant’s interest.”

Busan reporter Jeong Cheol-wook

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After drinking, "I'm a minor"... 40-year-old ‘not guilty’ on charges of forcible molestation (link)