Soldier in His 30s Charged with 'Public Indecency' After Removing His Pants While on a Walk…The Reason for 'Not Guilty'

Charged with an obscene act witnessed by a bystander while defecating in an abandoned house
Court: "The witness did not directly see the act…and no unusual traces were found at the scene"

A man in his 30s who was charged with public indecency after defecating in an abandoned house while on a walk was found not guilty by the court.

The Nonsan Branch of the Daejeon District Court found Mr. A, a man in his 30s who had been indicted on a public indecency charge, not guilty on the 23rd of last month.

Mr. A was charged with committing an obscene act at an abandoned house in July last year. The witness, Mr. B, stated to the investigative agency that Mr. A had removed his lower garments and was masturbating.

In contrast, Mr. A completely denied the charge. He argued that while on a walk he suddenly had an urgent need to relieve himself, so he removed his pants at the abandoned house to defecate and was merely discovered by the witness, and that he had never committed any obscene act.

The court judged that Mr. A's charge had not been proven. The court took note of the fact that witness Mr. B's statement had gradually changed in content as the case went from the investigation stage through trial. Appearing in court, Mr. B stated, "I did not directly see Mr. A's act; I only saw that his lower body was undressed and he was covering the genital area with one hand," overturning his own earlier statement.

In addition, it was confirmed that, according to the police investigation, no unusual items such as tissue were found at the scene right after the incident. The court found the defendant not guilty, holding that, taken together—the witness's statement changing at each point in time, making it hard to believe as is, and the absence of any confirmed cleanup traces at the scene—the evidence submitted by the prosecutor alone was insufficient to conclude that the defendant's act was an obscene act.

Attorney Cho Sang-soo of Daeryun (law firm), who represented the case, stated, "Public indecency cases are often prosecuted relying on a bystander's fragmentary statement, but in this case we drilled into the fact that the witness's statement kept changing over time and did not match the objective facts," and "By systematically reconstructing and demonstrating the fact that no traces were found at the scene and the specific circumstances under which the defendant had no choice but to leave the scene, we were able to prevent an unjust punishment." whyjay@sportsseoul.com

Reporter Shin Jae-yu

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Soldier in His 30s Charged with 'Public Indecency' After Removing His Pants While on a Walk…The Reason for 'Not Guilty' (Go to link)