Just Picked a Single Flower... Management Office Demands "350,000 Won" from Seniors

An elderly dementia patient in her 80s was referred to the prosecution on theft charges for picking a single flower from the flower bed of an apartment where she had lived for over 10 years. On the 11th, Daegu Suseong Police Station received a report that an octogenarian resident, Ms. A, had picked a yellow flower from the flower bed within the apartment complex around March. The apartment management office noticed the missing flower in the flower bed and reported it to the police. Through closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage, the police identified three individuals: resident Ms. A, and two others, Mr. B (in his 70s) and Mr. C (in his 80s), who were not residents.

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The management office demanded 350,000 won from Ms. A's family as a settlement fee, warning that a theft charge could result in a fine of about 1 million won. It is known that they cited regulations imposing fines up to 30 times the fare for fare evasion on KTX trains to justify this settlement demand. Ms. A had a history of diabetes and early-stage dementia. During the police investigation, she reportedly stated, "I picked the flower because it looked pretty." Ms. A's husband, acknowledging the mistake, offered an apology along with a settlement offer of 100,000 won, which was rejected. Ultimately, Ms. A's family paid 350,000 won to the management office and reached a settlement. The other two individuals, including Mr. B, did not reach a settlement.

Ms. A's daughter expressed her frustration in an interview with Yeongnam Ilbo, saying, "I am very angry and outraged at the apartment management office's harshness in trying to label my 80-year-old mother, whose cognitive and judgment abilities have declined, as a thief just for picking a single flower." She added, "They are not refusing to admit wrongdoing; we even offered an apology and a settlement (100,000 won), but the management office rejected it. I don't know who they exist for."

In theft cases, if the victim expresses a desire not to press charges, it is not considered a semi-indictable offense, so the police referred the case to the prosecution regardless of the settlement status. Legal experts expect that in such cases, the prosecution will typically issue a non-prosecution disposition.

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