[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] A couple who was acquitted in the first trial on charges of embezzling the first-prize lottery winnings of an intellectually disabled person they had known for 10 years and purchasing real estate was sentenced to prison in the appellate court.
The Criminal Division 1 of Daejeon High Court (Chief Judge Lee Junmyung) announced on the 23rd that it overturned the original verdict for the couple, Mr. and Mrs. A, who were indicted on charges including fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, and sentenced them to 3 years and 3 years and 6 months in prison, respectively.
The appellate court stated, "The act of buying small amounts of food in daily life and the act of acquiring real estate with a large sum of money require completely different judgment abilities," adding, "The victim had difficulty even reading numbers and needed help from others to withdraw money from the bank."
It continued, "It is also difficult to consider that there was a nominal trust agreement between the defendants and the victim," and explained the sentencing reason as, "The defendants deceived the victim, who seemed not to clearly understand the concepts of ownership and registration, by pretending as if they were buying land or constructing buildings in the victim's name."
Mr. and Mrs. A are accused of embezzling 880 million KRW after hearing about Mr. B's first-prize lottery win around 2016. Mr. B had been known to them for over 10 years. They told him, "We will buy land in Chungnam and build a building so that we can live together."
Investigations revealed that Mr. A and others arbitrarily used about 100 million KRW of the money by distributing it to their family members. Although they purchased land and constructed a building with the remaining money, the registration was confirmed to be under Mr. A's name. It was also found that they took out loans using the land and building as collateral.
Mr. B, who is illiterate and intellectually disabled, later discovered these facts and filed a complaint against Mr. and Mrs. A.
The first trial court, Criminal Division 1 of Hongseong Branch of Daejeon District Court (Chief Judge Kim Byungsik), accepted the defendants' claim that "the land and building were owned by the victim, but only the registration was made in the defendants' names, and they agreed to operate a restaurant and provide living expenses to the victim," and acquitted them.
The first trial court stated, "The victim appears to have the concept of property ownership," and ruled, "It is difficult to recognize that the victim lacked judgment ability to the extent of being easily deceived by simple temptations."
However, the appellate court, which reviewed the case following the prosecutor's appeal, overturned the first trial verdict, citing "the victim's mental function disability regarding the ability to conduct high-value property transactions."
Mr. and Mrs. A reportedly argued that they did not know Mr. B had mental and physical disabilities.
However, the appellate court rejected their claim, stating, "It is incomprehensible that they did not know about the victim whom they had known for over 10 years."
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