People in their 60s steal 660 kg of squash from someone else’s field... Bizarre claim: “We thought it had been abandoned”

[Financial News] People in their 60s who stole 660 kg of squash from someone else’s field, loaded it onto a truck and fled argued that they thought the squash had grown on its own or been abandoned. They were ultimately sentenced to prison terms, suspended.
According to Yonhap News Agency and other outlets on the 26th, Park Dong-uk, a judge of the Third Single-Judge Criminal Division at Chuncheon District Court, sentenced A, 69, and B, 66, who were indicted on special theft charges, to six months in prison, suspended for one year.
A and the others were sent to trial on charges of stealing 24 sacks of squash (about 660 kg) from a squash field in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province, on three occasions between October 31 and November 3 last year, then loading them onto a truck and fleeing.
In court, they claimed they were not guilty, saying, “We took the squash because we thought it had grown on its own or been abandoned,” but the court rejected their claim.
The court found that the defendants could readily have known the field was being managed by someone, given that nets to keep out wild animals had been installed around it. It also concluded that it was unlikely that as much as 660 kg of squash had grown on its own.
The court also concluded that the squash’s appearance and condition at the time made it unlikely to have been abandoned, noting that during the investigation the defendants had said, in effect, “We took some squash and tried it, and since it was in good condition, we came back for more.”
The court explained its sentencing decision, saying, “The defendants’ methods and the nature of their crime were reprehensible, the amount of squash they stole was considerable, and the victim is asking for them to be severely punished.” It added, “Taking into account that some of the stolen goods were returned and that the defendants made efforts to compensate for the damage, including depositing 1.8 million won for the victim, we determined the sentence.”
[email protected] Kim Su-yeon Reporter