Car Owner Who Blocked Shopping Mall Parking Lot for a Week Receives Suspended Sentence and 80 Hours of Community Service

A man in his 40s who left his vehicle unattended for a week at the entrance of an underground parking lot of a commercial building, expressing dissatisfaction with maintenance fees, was sentenced to probation.

On the 31st, Judge Kwon Soon-nam of the Incheon District Court Criminal Division 3 sentenced A (45), who was indicted on charges including general obstruction of traffic, to 10 months in prison with a 2-year probation and ordered 80 hours of community service.

A was non-custodially indicted on charges of obstructing other vehicles' passage by leaving his car at the entrance of the underground parking lot of a commercial building in Nonhyeon-dong, Namdong-gu, Incheon, from June 22 to 28 for one week.

A, a tenant of the commercial building, was investigated to have committed the crime after conflicts with the building management committee over maintenance fee payments. A claimed that the management committee charged maintenance fees twice, but the committee countered that proper procedures were followed.

Judge Kwon stated the sentencing rationale, saying, "The defendant left his vehicle unattended for a week, causing prolonged disruption to the building management committee’s work and inconvenience to the commercial building users. However, considering that the defendant admitted to the crime and has no prior criminal record."

Earlier, the prosecution demanded a one-year prison sentence for A at the sentencing hearing held last month.

An empty vehicle is blocking the entrance to the underground parking lot of a commercial building in Nonhyeon-dong, Namdong-gu, Incheon. June 27, 2023 [Image source=Yonhap News]

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