Causing Disturbances and Altercations at Hair Salons and Restaurants
Sentenced to 1 Year and 4 Months in Prison for Special Assault Charges
A man in his 50s who caused a disturbance by spraying beer at a doctor who urged him to be discharged after being caught drinking alcohol in a hospital room was sentenced to prison.
On the 20th, the Ulsan District Court Criminal Division 2 (Presiding Judge Hwang Hyung-joo) sentenced Mr. A, a man in his 50s who was tried on charges including special assault, to 1 year and 4 months in prison, according to Yonhap News on the same day. The court also ordered Mr. A to complete 40 hours of stalking recidivism prevention lectures.
In March of this year, Mr. A was receiving inpatient treatment at a hospital in Ulsan but left without permission and even drank alcohol in the hospital room. When the attending doctor demanded discharge for violating hospital rules, Mr. A swore and caused a disturbance. He struck a plastic bottle against the metal bed frame, breaking it, then threatened the doctor by holding it up to his face, saying, "I will mobilize my friends to shut down the hospital," and sprayed the beer he was drinking onto the doctor's face and chest.
In the same month, Mr. A caused a disturbance in a restaurant by smoking indoors, picking fights with staff, and kicking chairs. A month later, in April, he entered a hair salon in Ulsan and caused trouble. At that time, he slapped an innocent customer, threw glass cups, and overturned an aquarium and a hairdressing tool tray, causing property damage worth approximately 4.7 million won. He also sprayed hairspray on a customer and set it on fire, with this behavior continuing for about 20 minutes. Mr. A also assaulted police officers who responded to the report by kicking them.
Additionally, Mr. A hit the head of his teenage nephew while drinking, causing injuries that required two weeks of treatment. He also damaged items in a pub, stalked a woman in her 20s who ran the pub, and engaged in retaliatory driving on the road, habitually harassing people regardless of time or place.
The court pointed out, "The defendant committed crimes against multiple victims and continued offenses even after being caught in the act, showing very poor criminal character." Regarding the sentencing, the court explained, "Many victims have not forgiven the defendant, making a prison sentence unavoidable."
Meanwhile, according to statistics from the National Police Agency, the number of police dispatches due to intoxicated persons reached 958,602 cases last year. The number of dispatches for intoxicated persons was nearly 1 million in 2019, recording 998,872 cases, then temporarily declined during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 (886,518 cases) and 2021 (781,642 cases), before sharply rising again to 964,125 cases in 2022.
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