The prosecutor's appeal is dismissed.

Summary of Grounds for Appeal

Inasmuch as the victim's whereabouts is unknown and each of the above statements was made under particularly reliable circumstances, admissibility of evidence should be recognized in accordance with Article 314 of the Criminal Procedure Act.

Nevertheless, the court below rejected the admissibility of evidence, which erred by misapprehending the legal principles on admissibility of evidence.

Statements of misunderstanding of facts in investigative agencies are specific, consistent and reliable.

Nevertheless, the court below found the defendant not guilty on the ground that the evidence submitted by the prosecutor alone is insufficient to acknowledge the facts charged of this case.

Judgment

As to the assertion of misunderstanding legal principles, the lower court determined that the aforementioned statement was not admissible as evidence of guilt against the Defendant on the ground that the circumstances indicated in Articles 3 through 7 of the lower judgment, including the victim’s written complaint and written statement, and each police written statement against the victim, were not proven by the victim’s statement. However, even if the victim was unable to make a statement due to the victim’s unknown whereabouts, it does not constitute cases where each of the above statements was made under particularly reliable circumstances, and thus, it cannot be admitted as evidence of guilt against the Defendant

It was confirmed that the victim was residing in Italy for the first time in the judgment of the trial court.

However, the victim was present at the court of the first instance because of the difficulty of returning to Korea due to the situation of 19 incident and failed to confirm the authenticity of each of the above statements.

Even if such a situation falls under “when a person is unable to make a statement due to death, disease, foreign residence, unknown whereabouts, or any other similar cause” as stipulated in Article 314 of the Criminal Procedure Act.