In a Fit of Anger Over Upstairs Noise, 'Boom Boom'... 239 Stalking Incidents Directed at Downstairs

[Financial News] A man in his 60s, dissatisfied with the noise from the upstairs apartment, was punished for causing noise disturbances to the downstairs apartment by hitting the floor with a blunt object or shouting every night.
Chuncheon District Court Criminal Division 2 (Judge Kim Seong-rae) sentenced A (65) to 10 months in prison with a 2-year suspended sentence for charges of violating the Stalking Punishment Act, and ordered him to attend 40 hours of lectures to prevent reoffending of stalking crimes, it was announced on the 19th.
Mr. A, residing in Chuncheon, was brought to trial for stalking the family of Mr. B (40) living downstairs 239 times from September 2023 to January the following year, by hitting the wall or floor multiple times or shouting due to noise from the upper floor.
Mr. A claimed, "I only hit the ceiling with a stick 3 to 4 times to protest the noise between floors or shouted at night, but I did not cause noise and had no intention of stalking," but this was not accepted.
The court noted that the noise recorded by Mr. B's family was clearly distinguishable from simple footsteps or general living noise, and that this noise mainly occurred late at night or early in the morning.
The court considered it likely that the noise recorded multiple times was made by the same person, given the similarity in noise type, degree, and timing, and that before Mr. B's family moved into the apartment below Mr. A, residents had continuously filed complaints about Mr. A with the management office. Marks resembling those made by objects were found on various parts of Mr. A's ceiling and floor, which were used as evidence of guilt.
In the dispute mediation process mediated by the apartment noise management committee, Mr. A refused the proposal to install a recorder for noise measurement and declared he would not participate in the mediation, while the upstairs accepted the proposal, and no particular noise was confirmed from the upstairs, but rather noise from Mr. A's house was confirmed, which also tilted the scale towards guilt.
The court pointed out, "It is difficult to see that the upstairs caused unbearable noise, and the defendant's act of unilaterally causing retaliatory noise while refusing to identify the cause of the noise between floors or seek reasonable solutions cannot be seen as having a justifiable reason."
Furthermore, "Considering the significant number of stalking acts, the victims seem to have suffered extreme mental distress while their privacy and peace at home were violated, and the request for severe punishment against the defendant was taken into account in determining the sentence," the court ruled.




jjw@fnnews.com Jiwoo Jeong Reporter