Landlord’s son given suspended sentence for spycam in tenant’s apartment

An appeals court upheld a two-year and six-month prison term, suspended for four years, for a 48-year-old man convicted of illegally breaking into a woman’s apartment numerous times and installing a spy camera for sexual purposes.

On Wednesday, the Gwangju District Court dismissed the prosecution’s appeal against the lower court’s ruling last September, which handed down a suspended sentence for the defendant guilty of home invasion and installing hidden cameras.

The appellate court also affirmed one year of probation, 40 hours of treatment for sexual offenders and a three-year employment ban at facilities involving children, teenagers or people with disabilities.

In backing the lower court’s verdict, the appellate court said the defendant’s repeated crimes are of a severe nature, considering their methods, intent and frequency. But the defendant's poor health, the victim’s desire not to have him punished, and the man’s family’s plea for leniency, were factored in the decision.

According to court documents, the man was accused of attempting to or successfully entering a woman’s apartment on 64 occasions from September to December 2022 in Gwangju. The victim, a woman in her 20s, lived in a one-room apartment owned by the perpetrator's father.

The man tried to break into the apartment by entering random number combinations into the apartment’s electronic lock 26 times. After these failed attempts, he discovered the passcode by watching CCTV footage from the building. He then entered the victim’s home 38 times and installed a spycam to film the victim for sexual purposes.