A 40-year-old not guilty on charges of stealing hospital locker keys... Court: “There is no clear evidence”

A man in his 40s who was put on trial on suspicion of stealing locker keys at a hospital was found not guilty.

According to the legal community on the 9th, the Seoul Central District Court acquitted Mr. A, who was indicted on charges of theft on the 1st of last month. Mr. A was suspected of stealing the key to a locker at the hospital where he worked in 2023.

The hospital claimed that Mr. A stole the master key to open all lockers and that he did this to steal items from other employees. The hospital claimed that it showed Mr. A relevant CCTV footage and asked him to return the key, but Mr. A refused.

Mr. A denied the charges. He claimed that the item in his possession in the CCTV footage was a USB stick belonging to him, and that he did not know the whereabouts of the key.

The police investigating the case decided not to forward the case, but the hospital raised an objection, and the prosecution decided that the charges were acceptable and summarily indicted Mr. A. Afterwards, the court ordered a summary fine of 700,000 won, but Mr. A objected and requested a formal trial.

As a result of the formal trial, the court found Mr. A not guilty. Although the CCTV footage shows Mr. A taking a specific item, it was not visible what he had taken and it was not possible to accurately identify the item in his hand. In addition, there was no evidence that items in Mr. A's locker were lost while he was working at the hospital after the key was lost, so he was found not guilty.

Lawyer Kim Gwang-deok of Daeryun Law Firm, who represented Mr. A, said, “In a criminal trial, admission of a crime must be proven by strict evidence.” He added, “We were able to obtain an acquittal by emphasizing that the items in the CCTV were not clearly read and that no additional theft incidents occurred.”

Reporter Jeong Cheol-wook

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A 40-year-old not guilty of stealing hospital locker keys... Court: “There is no clear evidence” (Shortcut)