Cafe Owner's Shoes Sniffed by Supplier... Defendant Fined Again in Appeal

Suwon District Court Sentences 2 Million Won Fine
"Obsessive and Repeated Stalking Behavior"

A man in his 50s who repeatedly smelled shoes left behind by a female owner at a cafe where he supplied goods was sentenced to a fine in the appellate court, following the same verdict in the first trial.

According to Yonhap News on May 26, the Criminal Appellate Division 1-3 of the Suwon District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Jonggeun) dismissed the appeal of Mr. A (51), who had been indicted for violating the Act on the Punishment of Stalking Crimes and was sentenced to a fine of 2 million won in the first trial. The court also ordered Mr. A to complete 40 hours of a stalking treatment program, as in the first trial.

From December 2022 to March 2023, Mr. A was brought to trial on charges of stalking by repeatedly and continuously, without any justifiable reason, smelling the shoes of female cafe owner Ms. B, which were placed on the kitchen floor of a cafe in Gyeonggi Province, against the victim’s will, on 13 occasions. It was reported that in April 2023, Ms. B received a phone call from someone saying, "I want to smell your shoes," and, after checking all the store's CCTV footage, identified the defendant and filed a complaint.

The original court sentenced Mr. A to a fine of 2 million won, citing the fact that he was not forgiven by the victim and that he committed the crime 13 times over four months. Mr. A appealed, claiming that he acted out of mere curiosity and did not have the intent to stalk. However, the appellate court did not accept Mr. A’s claim, stating, "This act cannot be considered justifiable within reasonable social norms," and "It is difficult to view the defendant’s obsessive and repeated behavior of seeking out and smelling the hidden shoes as simply motivated by curiosity." The court also ruled that Mr. A’s actions were sufficient to cause anxiety or fear in anyone and therefore constituted an act punishable under the anti-stalking law.

The appellate court explained its decision to dismiss the appeal by stating, "There is no significant change in the sentencing conditions compared to the original trial, and even after reviewing the sentencing factors in the record, it is difficult to conclude that the original sentence was excessively heavy or outside the reasonable scope of discretion."