A man in his 70s was found not guilty on charges of trespassing into a temple office.

A man in his 70s who was handed over to the prosecution on charges of trespassing into the temple office and searching the interior was acquitted.

According to Daeryun Law Firm on the 24th, the Suncheon Branch of the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office decided not to indict Mr. A, a man in his 70s, on charges of violating the Punishment of Violence Act (trespassing into a shared residence) and conducting a residential search on December 30 last year.

Mr. A is accused of trespassing with his family into the temple office where the complainant, B, is the head priest in February of last year and searching for materials.

It is reported that Mr. A, the founder of the temple, handed over the rights to the founding owner to Mr. B in 2023.

However, it was confirmed that he went to retrieve the succession documents from the civil service office when Mr. B did not comply with the conditions he had suggested.

Accordingly, the prosecution determined that Mr. A was not guilty.

First, regarding the charge of home invasion, the prosecution explained, "The religious office where the incident occurred was a place where believers could visit freely at the time," and "From the CCTV footage, it appears that the complainant did not specifically restrain the suspect from entering."

The charge of residential search was also deemed to have insufficient evidence.

The prosecution explained, "If you look at the CCTV footage, the suspect stayed in the police station for only 20 seconds, so it is difficult to say that every corner of the house was searched. In addition, no video was filmed inside the room, and the complainant did not directly witness what the suspect did."

Attorney Sangwan Oh of the Daeryun Law Firm, who represented Mr. A, explained, "The principle is that whether a home invasion constitutes a trespass is judged based only on the objective and external actions at the time of entry."

He continued, “It appears that the non-indictment decision was made considering the fact that the door to the incident location was not locked and that Mr. B did not block entry.”
 

Reporter Shin Min-ji (sourminjee@ikbc.co.kr)

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A man in his 70s was acquitted on charges of trespassing into a temple office (Shortcut)