'Elementary School Vice Principal Accused of Sexual Harassment of Student Acquitted by Supreme Court: "Victim's Testimony Lacks Credibility"'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The acquittal of an elementary school vice principal accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a teenage student has been finalized.

The Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Park Jeong-hwa) on the 9th upheld the lower court's ruling that acquitted Vice Principal A of the elementary school, who was charged with violating the Special Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes, etc. (forcible molestation of a minor under 13 years old).

The court stated, "Even considering the specific circumstances of the victim based on so-called 'sexual sensitivity,' there are reasons to find the victim's testimony difficult to believe," adding, "There is no error such as violation of the principle of free evaluation of evidence or the rules of evidence in the lower court's judgment that rejected the credibility of the victim's testimony and found insufficient evidence to recognize the defendant's molestation."

A was prosecuted on charges of forcibly molesting B (then 10 years old), a student at the school, several times between October and December 2015, including stroking her arm and rubbing her back during school violence counseling.

A was also accused of touching B's buttocks while walking from the school entrance to the school gate.

It was investigated that B wrote in her memo, "I really hate the vice principal's black hands," "A snake-like person," and "It hurts and I feel ashamed."

In court, A argued, "While counseling B, I held her hand and patted her shoulder as a form of encouragement, but I never molested her."

The first trial acquitted A, stating, "There is a lack of credibility in the evidence." The second trial also judged A not guilty, stating, "It is difficult to see A's physical contact as objectively causing sexual shame or disgust to an ordinary person."

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