The Supreme Court has stated that an initial court ruling rejecting the indictment of a school principal for sexual harassment on the grounds that the victim, a high school student, dropped the complaint was wrong.
The panel led by Justice Shin Young-chul said Tuesday it had returned the case to the branch of the Gwangju District Court for retrial, turning down the appeal lodged by the 58-year-old former principal over the charges of sexual harassment against the female student.
The former principal was indicted for sexually harassment and attempted rape of the girl in the school’s official residence in 2010.
The lowest court sentenced the accused to a three-year prison term for the attempted rape, while turning down the indictment for sexual harassment on the grounds that the victim dropped the charge involving sexual harassment.
However, the appellate court ruled that it is not the crime which can not be punished if the victim expresses his or her intention that he or she does not want the criminal punished as he has been indicted for sexually harassing a youth under his authority as the principal. “The lower court will have to try the sexual harassment.”