Actor Oh Youngsoo is coming out after the first trial sentencing hearing held on the afternoon of March 15, 2024, at the Suwon District Court Seongnam Branch in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Yonhap News
Actor Oh Youngsoo (81), who was given a suspended prison sentence in the first trial for allegedly committing indecent assault against a woman in 2017, was acquitted on appeal.
The Criminal Appeals Division 6 of the Suwon District Court (Presiding Judges Kwak Hyungseop, Kim Eunjung, and Kang Heekyung) overturned the original verdict, which sentenced Oh to eight months in prison with a two-year suspension, and acquitted him during the appellate sentencing hearing held on the 11th.
The court stated, "The victim received counseling at a sexual violence counseling center about six months after the alleged indecent assault occurred, informed several close colleagues of the incident, and the defendant apologized in response to the victim's message requesting an apology. These factors raise suspicions that the defendant may have committed indecent assault as charged. However, considering the passage of time, there is a possibility that the victim's memory was distorted, and if there is doubt as to whether the defendant committed indecent assault as stated in the indictment, the benefit of the doubt must go to the defendant." This was the reasoning for the acquittal.
Oh was indicted without detention in November 2022 on charges of forcibly hugging woman A on a walking trail and kissing her on the cheek in front of her residence on two occasions during the summer of 2017, when he was staying in a provincial area for a theater performance. Prosecutors sought a one-year prison sentence for Oh in both the first and second trials.
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