The prosecutor's appeal is dismissed.

1. The summary of the grounds for appeal (misunderstanding of facts and legal principles) at the time of the instant case, when the victim was forced to commit an indecent act from the Defendant during the course of performing the work, the victim was informed of the male-gu sexual intercourse and reported it to 112 after leaving his school by text message, and the specific indecent act was consistently stated in the investigative agency and the court below. The victim’s statement has credibility and has no reason to dismiss the Defendant.

Therefore, the judgment of the court below which acquitted the defendant, despite the fact that the defendant was fully guilty, is erroneous in the misunderstanding of facts and legal principles.

2. Determination

A. In light of the difference between the first instance court and the appellate court’s method of evaluating the credibility of the testimony of the witness at the first instance trial, the first instance court’s determination on the credibility of the statement made by the witness at the first instance trial was clearly erroneous in light of the content of the first instance judgment and the evidence duly examined in the first instance trial, in light of the purport and spirit of the substantial direct deliberation principle adopted by the Korean Criminal Procedure Act.

Unless there are extenuating circumstances to view the credibility of a statement made by a witness of the first instance trial and the result of an additional examination of evidence up to the closing of the appellate trial, the appellate court should not reverse without permission the first instance judgment on the grounds that the first instance judgment on the credibility of the statement made by the witness of the first instance trial is different from the appellate court’s judgment, except in exceptional cases where it is deemed that it is significantly unfair to maintain the first instance judgment on the credibility of the statement made by the witness of the first instance trial.

In particular, if the first trial decision rejecting the credibility of the witness's statement supporting the facts charged is followed, it should be said that there are sufficient and understandable circumstances in light of the presumption of innocence and the principle of criminal burden of proof.

In addition, the democratic legitimacy and trust of Korea's justice.