Suwon Sexual Offense Attorney | Suwon Attorney Helps Client Obtain a Fine for Indecent Act by Compulsion

At the time of the incident, the client was drinking together with the victim and the victim's boyfriend, and committed the indecent act by compulsion while the victim's boyfriend had briefly stepped away.

The client placed his hand on a part of the victim's body and even made a sexually harassing remark, saying, “Let us sleep together while your boyfriend is not around.”

The victim brushed off the client's advances and immediately told her boyfriend, informing him of the situation.

The client was then booked on a charge of indecent act by compulsion.

The client explained that, because he had been heavily intoxicated at the time, he had no recollection at all of touching the victim's body or of the sexually harassing remark.

However, the victim stated that the client's conduct was clearly a sexual act against her will, and she strongly expressed her displeasure.

According to the testimony of the victim's boyfriend, the victim had run to him in tears and told him what happened at the time, so it was not an account lacking credibility.

In the end, the accounts of the client and the victim diverged, and the matter proceeded to a legal dispute.

At the time, the client was in a confused state, having been so intoxicated that he had no recollection at all.

He further explained that the victim was spreading malicious rumors about him at the university and even damaging his reputation, placing him in a very difficult situation.

The attorney explained that, if the client's guilt were established, the conduct would be charged as the crime of indecent act by compulsion.

Criminal Act Article 298 (Indecent Act by Compulsion)

🔗The requirements for an indecent act by compulsion are as follows.

This contact must occur against the victim's will and must have a sexual purpose.

② An act against the victim's will

There must be an act of physical contact carried out without the victim's consent, and this also includes cases where the victim explicitly refused or was unable to express their intention.

③ Intent

The offender must have had the intent to force sexual contact on the victim, and this applies to cases where, to that end, the offender intentionally deceives or pressures the victim.

In particular, it is provided that the crime of indecent act by compulsion punishes attempts.

According to a Supreme Court precedent (2015Do6980), where a person attempted to embrace the victim from behind and, when the victim turned around and shouted, stared at her for a few seconds and then turned back, the conduct was also punished as an attempt of the crime of indecent act by compulsion.

At the time of the incident, the client had reached a state of heavy intoxication, and the next day he remembered nothing of the conduct in question.

When confronted the next day by the victim and the victim's boyfriend with demands for an apology, the client became very confused and hastily conveyed an apology, saying, “If I really acted that way, I am truly sorry.”

However, this conduct was treated as the client's admission of guilt, and the victim spread this as a rumor within the university.

The Suwon attorney argued that, because of this conduct by the victim, the client's presumption of innocence had been significantly violated and the client's reputation had been damaged.

The attorney focused on ‘the victim's words’ in the course of the victim's act of spreading rumors within the university.

The attorney explained that, when spreading the rumors within the university, the victim included exaggerated content that differed from the established facts, significantly damaging the client's reputation.

The attorney also argued that, because the victim's boyfriend's account was reversed several times and was not consistent, the credibility of the statement was likewise diminished.

The attorney showed that the client deeply regretted his conduct toward the victim and had made continuous efforts to obtain forgiveness.

For the sake of the victim, who attended the same university, the client applied for a leave of absence and separated himself from the victim.

He also conveyed his apologies several times after the incident.

In particular, the attorney explained that the client personally delivered more than 10 letters of apology, conveying his apology to the victim.