'Physical:100' Contestant Who Confessed to Sexual Assault Charges Released in Second Trial

Girlfriend Sexual Assault and Illegal Filming Charges
1st Trial: 7 Years Imprisonment, 2nd Trial: 3 Years Imprisonment and 5 Years Probation

A former national rugby player, who was on trial for sexually assaulting and illegally filming his girlfriend by threatening her, received a reduced sentence with probation in the second trial and was released.

On the 11th, the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 9 (Presiding Judges Jeon Ji-won, Gu Tae-hoe, and Yoon Kwon-won) sentenced former national rugby player A (32) to 3 years in prison with 5 years probation. In the first trial, A was sentenced to 7 years in prison. However, the order to complete 80 hours of sexual violence treatment program and the confiscation of one seized mobile phone were upheld.

A was arrested and indicted on charges of threatening his girlfriend with a weapon and sexually assaulting her at her home in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on February 23 last year (rape and injury under the Sexual Violence Punishment Act). At that time, he was also charged with illegally filming the victim using his mobile phone despite her refusal. A gained some public recognition by appearing on the Netflix variety show 'Physical:100'.

The first trial court stated, "The defendant exhibited unpredictable behavior such as drinking alcohol while agitated, hitting his head hard enough to cause bleeding, and making threatening contacts," and sentenced him to 7 years in prison, noting that "the victim must have experienced considerable fear and sexual discomfort."

However, the second trial court's judgment differed. The second trial court explained, "Although the defendant confessed to the charges in the original trial court, he consistently denied the charges in the main trial," and added, "Considering the victim's testimony, it is difficult to recognize the confession as sufficient grounds to convict on this part of the charges." Furthermore, the court stated, "It is difficult to acknowledge that the defendant carried a weapon to rape the victim, and some sexual acts are hard to be considered rape," and ruled, "Although the guilt is serious, we considered that A showed remorse during over 10 months of detention, reached a settlement with the victim, and deleted the illegal footage on the same day so that it was not distributed externally."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.