Special Threats and Residential Intrusion Charges
500 Million Won Fine and 2-Year Probation
The court sentenced a man in his 50s to a suspended fine for threatening his upstairs neighbor, who caused noise between floors, while holding a golf club.
The Incheon District Court Criminal Division 1 (Judge Oh Gi-du) announced on the 4th that it sentenced Mr. A (59), who was tried on charges of special intimidation and trespassing, to a fine of 5 million won and a two-year suspended sentence.
On January 31, 2022, around midnight, Mr. A unlawfully entered the home of the victim, Mr. B, who lives upstairs in a multi-family housing complex in Gyeyang-gu, Incheon, where Mr. A also resides. Holding a golf club, Mr. A struck the walls and uttered abusive language.
Because Mr. B's children were making noise, Mr. A banged on the walls with the golf club and went upstairs. When Mr. B opened the front door, Mr. A threatened him, saying, "OO, shouldn't you be sleeping?" He also took off his shoes and entered the living room, resulting in charges of trespassing.
The court stated, "Although Mr. A claims that he entered the victim's home following the instructions of the police officers who arrived at the scene, the evidence shows that Mr. A unlawfully entered the victim's home without just cause and without any agreement."
Regarding the sentencing rationale, the court explained, "However, considering that Mr. A committed the act impulsively due to suffering from noise between floors at the victim's home, has no prior criminal record since being fined 300,000 won in 1999, and shows remorse, the sentence was determined accordingly."
Conflicts caused by residential noise continue. Last month in Suwon, a woman in her 40s injured her upstairs neighbor with a stun gun, and a man in his 20s living in a one-room motel strangled his 40s male neighbor next door to death over noise between walls and then disposed of the body.
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