Daughter in her 50s who withdrew money from her unconscious father's account... Not guilty of 'forgery of private documents'

A woman in her 50s who withdrew money from her bank account to pay for the hospital bills of her father in his 90s, who was hospitalized in an unconscious state, was put on trial but was found not guilty.

The Nonsan branch of Daejeon District Court found Mr. A not guilty last January on charges of forging private documents.

Mr. A was accused of withdrawing 12.15 million won from a financial institution in Nonsan in May of last year by filling out and stamping two withdrawal slips in the name of his father, who was hospitalized.

The prosecution charged Mr. A with forgery of private documents, saying he used the name of his unconscious father to write documents and withdraw deposits.

Mr. A completely denied the charges.

At the time, the father was unconscious and the mother had usually managed financial affairs, but he only visited a financial institution at the mother's request to raise money for hospital expenses.

At the same time, Mr. A claimed that all the money withdrawn at the time was transferred to his mother's account and used for actual treatment expenses.

The court accepted Mr. A’s claim and declared him not guilty.

First, the court said, "Considering that the cashier judged that there was no problem with the defendant and his mother accompanying the defendant to a financial institution and withdrawing money from the deceased's account, it is reasonable to assume that the employee was aware of the fact that the mother usually managed the father's account."

At the same time, he said, "It cannot be said that the defendant had the intention to forge private documents, and even if intention is acknowledged, it can be acknowledged that there was presumptive consent from the deceased for the act of preparing the withdrawal slip."

Attorney Byeon Gwan-hoon of Daeryun Law Firm, who represented Mr. A, explained, "Forgery of a private document refers to a case where a person who does not have the authority to write a document steals another person's name and prepares a document. If there was explicit or implied consent from the owner, or if it is presumed that the owner would have naturally approved it if he or she had known in light of all circumstances, it is difficult to regard it as forgery."

In addition, Attorney Byun added, "We explained in detail the circumstances of the family's property management practices, the actual use of funds, and the circumstances of the document creation, along with objective data, and explained in detail the circumstances in which it is difficult to conclude that it was forgery." He added, "This is a ruling in which the court acknowledged that criminal intent cannot be inferred from formal acts alone."

#accident #not guilty #forgery of private document

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

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