Woman who filed false rape complaint against ex-partner receives suspended sentence

A woman who filed a false complaint claiming her former partner had attempted to rape her — in retaliation for his reporting her to police — has been sentenced to a suspended prison term.

Judge Byeon Seong-hwan of Busan District Court's Criminal Division 4 sentenced the suspect, identified only as A, to six months in prison suspended for two years on charges of filing a false accusation, Yonhap reported Wednesday.

A was indicted on charges of submitting a false complaint to a Busan police station on Dec. 26, 2020, alleging that the former partner, identified as B, had attempted to rape her.

A and B had been in a relationship from 2019 to early 2020. After B reported A to police on charges including aggravated residential trespass, A decided to file the false complaint in retaliation, according to the investigation.

In the complaint, A alleged that B had forcibly attempted to have sexual intercourse with her and physically attacked her.

Two days after submitting the complaint, A appeared at the police station as a victim and made false statements to the same effect.

The investigation found that B had neither attempted to rape nor assaulted A.

"Given the tendency for criminal complaints to be filed indiscriminately in this country, strict punishment is warranted as a deterrent against false accusations," the court said in its ruling, adding that the psychological trauma suffered by the falsely accused "could not have been light."

However, the court took into account that A was 19 years old at the time of the complaint and admitted to the false accusation within a month of filing it, which led to B being cleared of the sexual assault charges without referral to prosecutors.

The court also considered that A had no prior criminal record and showed deep remorse, and suspended the sentence accordingly.

In a separate case, a suspect in their 40s, identified as C, was sentenced Monday to six months in prison suspended for two years on charges of filing a false rape complaint after having consensual sex with a man.

C stood trial on charges including submitting a false complaint to the Changwon Jungbu Police Station in Seongsan-gu, Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, on Feb. 25, alleging that a man identified as D had raped her in a hotel room, Yonhap reported.

Before filing the complaint, C was confirmed to have walked out of the hotel with D on the morning of Feb. 7 and parted ways with a wave.

Five days later, on Feb. 12, C sent D text messages reading "honey" and "hang in there today," the investigation found. On Feb. 19, C met D again and was seen holding hands, embracing and kissing.

"The suspect put D at risk of criminal punishment and improperly exploited the state's criminal justice system for personal gain," the court said, while also noting that D, having reached a settlement, did not wish to see C criminally punished, and that C had no prior criminal record.