A man in his 70s who habitually caused disturbances in his neighborhood — including smashing a neighbor's window and assaulting residents while drunk — has been sentenced to prison.
The Ulsan District Court's Criminal Division 4 single-judge bench, presided over by Senior Judge Lim Jung-yoon, sentenced A, a man in his 70s, to one year in prison on charges of special property destruction, assault and obstruction of business, the court said Wednesday.
In late May last year, A picked up a shovel in an alley near his home in Buk-gu, Ulsan and repeatedly struck the windows of a foreign resident's home, breaking them, simply because he disliked the foreign neighbor living nearby. When a resident identified as B intervened to stop him and reprimanded him, A grabbed B by the collar and shook him in an assault.
In the evening in mid-August last year, A was drinking at home when he punched and broke a glass window of the house next door because the door was locked. When the neighbor swept up the broken glass with a broom and protested, A snatched the broom and struck the neighbor in the jaw repeatedly.
A's rampage extended to local shops as well. A few days later, after drinking at a restaurant, A asked the owner to call a taxi and left in it, but soon returned, hurling profanities and shouting, "I called the wrong taxi. Give me back the drinks I was having." He then disrupted the restaurant's business for an hour, including by pulling on the owner's hand.
The court said, "Despite having already been punished multiple times for violent crimes, A committed the offenses again during his repeat-offender period and has not been forgiven by the victims." It added, "To correct his long-standing drinking and violent habits and to prevent recidivism, it is necessary to isolate him from society for a considerable period," explaining the reasoning behind the sentence.
