Landlord's Family Member Fined for Sprinkling Saltwater on Tenant's Cafe Entrance Under Guise of 'Warding Off Bad Luck'

A member of a landlord's family who sprinkled saltwater at the entrance of a tenant's cafe amid a dispute over building handover has been sentenced to a fine in an appellate court as well.

Incheon District Court Criminal Appellate Division 3-3 (Presiding Judge Song Hyun-kyung) announced today (July 28) that it upheld the lower court's sentence, issuing a fine of 500,000 won to A (86), who was indicted on charges of obstruction of business.

A was indicted on charges of obstructing the business of cafe owner B (51) by sprinkling saltwater twice at the entrance of a cafe in Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, on December 21, 2023, causing the salt to harden on the glass windows.

During the trial, A claimed, "My son operates a billiard room on the second floor of the building," adding, "I did it to ward off bad luck the day before Dongji (the winter solstice) in hopes that the business would do well."

Following the first-instance ruling, A's side appealed, arguing that A was in a state of mental and physical weakness due to severe dementia at the time of the crime and that the lower court had omitted a judgment on this matter.

However, the appellate court took into account that A was diagnosed with dementia 10 months after the crime and that A sprinkled saltwater toward the cafe by taking advantage of a moment when no people were passing by.

The court also noted that while B and the representative of the company that owned the building had been engaged in a dispute over the building handover, A was the maternal grandmother of the company representative.

The appellate court dismissed A's appeal, stating, "There are no errors in the lower court's judgment that misapprehended the legal principles or misunderstood the facts to the detriment of the verdict."
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.