A passenger who swung a soju bottle at a taxi driver on an expressway can be convicted of assaulting a driver even though the bottle never touched the driver, a South Korean court has ruled.
Judge Cha Ki-hyun of the Gwangju District Court's criminal division sentenced the 58-year-old defendant to one year and six months in prison on charges of assaulting a driver under the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes and obstructing an officer in the performance of official duties, legal sources said on the 28th.
The defendant was accused of swinging a soju bottle three times at the head of the 72-year-old driver inside a taxi traveling on the northbound lanes of the Honam Expressway at about 8:15 a.m. on June 12.
The defendant had asked the driver to turn on the hazard lights and pull over, saying they needed to urinate. When the driver refused on safety grounds, the defendant pulled out a soju bottle from the cup holder in the passenger seat.
The driver blocked two of the swings with an arm and stopped the third by grabbing the defendant's hand. As a result, the bottle never made direct contact with the driver's head.
The assault continued afterward. After the taxi arrived at a rest area, the defendant was further accused of hurling abuse at a police officer who responded to the driver's report and throwing a punch at the officer's face.
During the trial, the defendant denied striking the driver's head with the bottle. The court noted, however, that the driver's account remained consistent from the moment of the report through the trial. It also cited the profanity and impact sounds recorded on the vehicle's dashcam as grounds for its finding.
"Even if the bottle did not directly touch the victim's head because the driver defended themself well, it is more than sufficient to constitute assault on a driver in terms of the exercise of physical force," the court said.
"The defendant assaulted the driver of a vehicle traveling on an expressway, creating considerable danger to road traffic," the court said. "The court also took into account that the defendant went on to assault a police officer and has not been forgiven by the victimized driver."
