Misunderstanding Husband's Affair... 60s Woman Who Insulted and Threatened Other Woman Receives Suspended Prison Sentence in First Trial

Misunderstanding an affair, sent threatening and abusive texts to the other woman

A woman in her 60s who sent 193 threatening and abusive text messages to another woman, mistakenly believing that the woman had an affair with her husband, was found guilty of stalking.

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On the 15th, Judge Kim Tae-eop of the Incheon District Court Criminal Division 1 sentenced Ms. A, 68, who was charged with violating the Act on the Punishment of Stalking Crimes and Threats, to 8 months in prison with a 2-year probation, according to Yonhap News. The judge also ordered Ms. A to undergo probation and attend 40 hours of lectures on preventing recidivism in stalking crimes.

Ms. A was indicted on charges of stalking by sending threatening text messages from August 8 to 26 last year at her home in Namdong-gu, Incheon, under the mistaken belief that Ms. B had an affair with her husband. She reportedly sent a photo of a weapon to Ms. B, threatening, "If you meet my husband, I will stab you with a knife," and said, "Don't bleed in front of your granddaughter and get a grip." The number of messages Ms. A sent to Ms. B reached 193. Additionally, in September of the same year, she visited Ms. B’s workplace to wait or called her five times.

The court stated, "The defendant continuously stalked and threatened the victim with unspeakable insults under the mistaken belief that her husband and the victim were having an affair," and judged that "the nature of the crime is serious, and the victim has not forgiven her." However, the court cited as a reason for sentencing that "the defendant confessed and acknowledged her wrongdoing."

Meanwhile, under the Stalking Punishment Act, ‘stalking’ refers to "acts that cause anxiety or fear to the other party or their cohabitant or family without justifiable reason against their will." Specifically, stalking acts include ▲sending text messages ▲approaching, following, or blocking the path ▲waiting or watching at the residence ▲leaving objects at the residence. However, for these acts to be recognized as stalking crimes, they must be continuous and repetitive. Recently, the scope of the Stalking Punishment Act has expanded to include acts such as following a spouse to collect evidence of infidelity and retaliatory acts for noise between floors, if these acts are deemed to exceed socially reasonable limits and sufficiently cause anxiety or fear to the other party, thus qualifying as ‘stalking.’