Man in His 20s Acquitted of Illegally Filming Ex-Girlfriend... "Unverified Video Copy Inadmissible as Evidence"

A man in his 20s who was sued by his former girlfriend for illegal filming has been cleared of the charges in court.

According to legal circles on July 14, the Cheongju District Court Criminal Agreement Division 22 (Presiding Judge Han Sang-won) recently acquitted the man, identified as A, who had been indicted on charges of violating the Act on Protection of Children and Juveniles against Sexual Abuse and the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes.

A was indicted on charges of secretly filming the naked back of his then-girlfriend B (16) with his mobile phone at a hotel in Cheongju at 4:10 a.m. on May 1, 2025.

B, who had broken up with A, filed a complaint against him about a year after the incident occurred and submitted a video containing A's voice admitting to the illegal filming as evidence to investigative authorities.

However, the court did not recognize the admissibility of the confession video, which was the only evidence in the case.

Presiding Judge Han pointed out, "According to the victim's statement, the video in question is a copy restored from a backup of the victim's broken mobile phone." He added, "In cases where the original cannot be submitted and thus cannot be directly compared with the copy, the court must be able to determine the authenticity of the original by synthesizing appraisals and investigation results. However, the prosecution did not verify whether any artificial manipulation, such as editing, was applied during the process of copying the video."

The judge further stated, "Even if the victim personally saw the video of the naked body being filmed, it is impossible to conclude that it is the victim's body since it only shows the back."

He also noted, "The victim testified that immediately after the incident, she had the defendant delete the video from his phone after an argument, and then filmed him confessing to it. It is difficult to accept that the defendant, having gone through the trouble of deleting the footage, would immediately agree to admit his crime on the spot and allow the victim to record it."

The court ruled, "Furthermore, considering that the victim's specific statements regarding the circumstances leading to the complaint against the defendant and the situation at the time were contradictory or inconsistent, it is difficult to see that the criminal facts have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.