▲ Assault
If a person is slapped once, falls, and hits their head on a concrete floor, resulting in a fracture and bleeding, can the assailant be held responsible for serious bodily injury?
The first trial court acquitted the defendant of serious injury charges, citing the possibility of a third-party cause such as another impact, and imposed a fine for simple assault. However, the appellate court overturned this decision, recognizing a causal link based on an appraisal by the National Forensic Service, and sentenced the defendant to prison.
The Chuncheon Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Lee Eun-hye) announced on July 20 that it had overturned the original sentence of a 5 million won fine and sentenced A (62), who was indicted on charges of serious bodily injury, to six months in prison.
A was brought to trial on charges of slapping B (50), an acquaintance, in a fit of anger in July 2024 at a bar parking lot in Hongcheon, claiming that B had cursed at him and grabbed him by the collar.
The following day, B was diagnosed at a university hospital with injuries requiring approximately 70 days of treatment, including a skull fracture in the left frontal lobe and an intracranial hemorrhage.
The prosecution, which indicted A for serious bodily injury, argued that B suffered these injuries after being slapped by A and falling, hitting his head on the concrete floor.
Conversely, A's side raised the possibility that B may have been injured by another cause after the assault incident.
The first trial court applied only the charge of simple assault and imposed a 5 million won fine, reasoning that the location and intensity of A's assault did not match B's injury site, and that an acquaintance who slept in the same space as B after the incident testified to hearing a sound as if B had fallen, suggesting the possibility of another cause.
However, the appellate court determined that A's assault was the cause of B's injuries.
The second trial focused on the National Forensic Service's appraisal, which stated that the pattern of B's skull fracture and brain hemorrhage was consistent with medical findings of hitting the back right side of the head against a hard floor while falling.
The court also considered factors supporting causality, such as B's inability to remember what happened immediately after hitting his head on the floor, the fact that he could not walk on his own and had to be supported by acquaintances, and the bleeding that occurred in the head area at the time.
Although A's side argued for the possibility of injury from a third-party cause, stating, "CCTV footage shows B walking on his own and smoking with acquaintances immediately after the incident," the court ruled, "There is no medical basis to conclude that symptoms of intracranial hemorrhage must appear immediately."
The appellate court ruled, "Even if the defendant did not have the specific intent to directly inflict injury on the victim's head, it is reasonable to conclude that the defendant could have sufficiently foreseen the possibility that the victim could lose balance and fall to the floor due to the assault, and in that case, sustain head injuries."
However, the court determined that there was no intent to cause injury, and applied the charge of assault resulting in injury rather than serious bodily injury, sentencing the defendant to six months in prison.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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