Man Charged with Sexually Assaulting a Bar Employee Found "Not Guilty" in Appeal as Well as First Trial

Charged with forcibly sexually assaulting and indecently assaulting an employee against her will
Court: "In the CCTV, claims often conflict with statements...lacks consistency"

A man in his 50s who was put on trial on charges of attempting to sexually assault an employee at a bar and forcibly molesting her was found not guilty in the appeal as well as in the first trial.

The Seoul High Court, in the appellate hearing of the case of Mr. A, indicted on charges of attempted rape and indecent assault by force, dismissed the prosecution's appeal and upheld the lower court ruling that found him not guilty.

Mr. A was charged with, in August 2024, attempting to forcibly sexually assault employee Ms. B against her will at a bar in Paju, stopping at an attempt, and then indecently assaulting Ms. B in the course of a dispute over the bill. The complainant Ms. B and other employees stated that Mr. A forcibly attempted coercive physical contact, and the prosecution indicted Mr. A on this basis.

On the other hand, Mr. A's side completely denied the charges. He argued that the physical contact that occurred at the time was an act by mutual consent, and that afterward, when Ms. B excessively demanded an additional tip and a dispute broke out, she filed a false report out of spite.

The first-instance court found Mr. A not guilty. The court determined that the statements of Ms. B and other employees who witnessed the incident, which supported the charges, frequently conflicted and lacked consistency, making it difficult to believe their credibility as they were.

The court said, "According to the CCTV, immediately after the point at which she claimed the sexual assault damage occurred, Ms. B exhibited behavior such as sharing an embrace with Mr. A outside the room," adding, "The employee's claim that she heard a scream from outside and hurriedly opened the door also conflicted with her appearance in the CCTV, in which she was calmly looking at her mobile phone at the time."

The prosecution, dissatisfied with the first instance, appealed on the ground of a factual error. However, the appellate court also upheld the not-guilty ruling, finding no reasonable circumstances to view the lower court's judgment as unjust. The appellate court ruled, "It cannot be said that the lower court's judgment of the evidentiary value is clearly wrong, or that the reasoning leading to the finding of fact runs contrary to logic and the rules of experience."

Attorney Kim Eun-yeong of Daeryun LLC, who defended Mr. A's case, explained, "It was a serious sex crime charge, but from the early investigation stage we meticulously analyzed the objective CCTV footage and the contradictions in the statements of the complainant and witnesses, and dug into the flaws in the claims," adding, "By clearly proving the motive for the false report and impeaching the credibility of the statements, we were able to clear the injustice and preserve the not-guilty verdict in the appeal as well." jckim99@sportsseoul.com

Reporter Kim Jong-cheol

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Man Charged with Sexually Assaulting a Bar Employee Found "Not Guilty" in Appeal as Well as First Trial (Go to link)