A woman who drove while intoxicated to escape a sexual assault has been acquitted, with the court finding that she had no choice but to drive to get away from an urgent threat and therefore could not be held criminally liable.
Senior Judge Kim Yeon-soo, sitting as a single judge in the first criminal division of the Chungju branch of the Cheongju District Court, recently acquitted the defendant, identified only as A, who had been indicted on charges of violating the Road Traffic Act by driving under the influence, legal sources said on the 25th.
A was charged with driving about 11 kilometers from a lodging establishment in Chungju in June last year with a blood alcohol content of 0.094%.
The central issue at trial was whether A's drunk driving constituted an act of necessity. Under Korean law, necessity refers to an unavoidable act taken to avert a present danger to the life, body, freedom or property of oneself or another. When necessity is recognized, the act loses its unlawful character and is not punished, even if it otherwise meets the elements of a crime.
A was sleeping at the lodging when she realized she had been raped while incapacitated, then got up, gathered her clothes and belongings and got into her car, according to the ruling. When the male assailant followed her, she drove about 11 kilometers before reporting the assault to police.
The court found that A's conduct amounted to necessity and was therefore not unlawful. "There was no one at the lodging other than A and her companion, and the lodging was in a remote location where few people appear to have been around in the early morning hours," Kim said.
"At the time of the incident, it appears to have been impossible for A to leave the scene of the rape by asking someone for help or calling a taxi," the judge added.
The man who committed the assault against A was sentenced to three years in prison on that charge.
