The prosecutor's appeal is dismissed.

1. The judgment of the court below which rejected the credibility of the victim's statement as the victim's statement was not discovered in the first time due to the lack of circumstances that could distort the victim's statement in the course of appeal, and acquitted the defendant of the facts charged in this case.

2. Determination

A. Article 307(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act provides that “The recognition of a criminal fact shall reach the degree of proof with no reasonable doubt.”

Therefore, the conviction in a criminal trial should be based on evidence of probative value, which leads a judge to the conviction that the facts charged are true beyond a reasonable doubt.

In a case where the evidence submitted by the prosecutor alone does not reach the degree of conviction, the determination should be made with the benefit of the defendant even if there is a suspicion of guilt.

(see, i.e., Supreme Court Decision 2016Do21231, Oct. 31, 2017). In order to consistently deny the facts charged by the Defendant based on the victim’s statement, which is the only evidence supporting the facts charged, to find the Defendant guilty on the basis of the victim’s statement, the credibility of the facts charged ought to be ensured to the extent that there is no reasonable doubt as to the victim’s statement in light of the reasonableness and feasibility of the contents of the statement itself, objective circumstances and empirical rule, etc.

(see, e.g., Supreme Court Decision 2014Do7945, Nov. 26, 2015). B.

Judgment

The lower court, based on its stated reasoning, determined that it is difficult to view the victim’s statement, which is the only evidence, as the only evidence in fact, to have credibility to such a degree that the facts charged are true, and that the evidence submitted by the prosecutor alone cannot be deemed to have been proven without reasonable doubt that the Defendant committed an act identical to that indicated in the facts charged.

The court below adopted and investigated.