(Herald DB)
A 62-year-old man has been cleared of stalking charges following allegations brought by his former girlfriend after the court found the plaintiff's testimonies to be inconsistent and lacking in credibility, officials said Sunday.
The defendant had been given a summary order to pay a 3-million-won ($2,200) fine for charges of stalking his girlfriend and trespassing at her home. He denied the charges and requested a formal trial.
The prosecution accused the defendant of stalking based on allegations that he waited outside his former girlfriend's home in January 2022 and got in her car without consent He was also found to have entered her home the following month, with a key that he received when the two were in a romantic relationship.
The defendant also reportedly sent two text messages that were critical of his ex-partner.
The court, however, dismissed the testimonies by saying that the victim had accompanied the defendant to the hospital and that the two were close enough for the victim to ask him to paint her car. It also pointed out that the victim never asked the defendant to return his keys, and that the messages were few in number and nonconsecutive.
On the victim's claim that she "moved from Gangwon Province to Gyeonggi Province to get away from the defendant," the court questioned the statement's credibility, based on the fact that the two had reportedly looked for a new place together.
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