Photo is unrelated to the article. [Getty Images Bank]
Photo is unrelated to the article. [Getty Images Bank]

A woman has shared her account of a late-night incident in which a man from the apartment below unlocked her front door using her passcode and watched her through the gap — only for the man to be acquitted due to insufficient evidence.

The story, submitted by a viewer identified as A, aired Tuesday on JTBC's "Sageon Banjang," a program covering real-life crime cases.

According to A, she heard someone pressing the buttons on her front door lock at around 2 a.m. on Sept. 5 and immediately sensed something was wrong. The only person who knew her passcode was her boyfriend, and he was not the type to show up unannounced.

By the time she reached the front door, it was already wide open, she said. Fortunately, the security chain was latched, leaving the door open only about the width of a hand and a half. Through the gap, she said, she made direct eye contact with a man standing outside.

A was wearing only her underwear at the time. Startled, she locked the door and called police. Investigators identified the man as a resident of the apartment below. He was reportedly already notorious within the building for causing drunken disturbances.

When police asked how he had managed to enter the correct eight-digit passcode, the man said he had been drunk and could not remember. Police were ultimately unable to determine how he had obtained the code.

"He was acquitted — not even on attempted trespass charges — because there was no evidence," A said. "Fingerprints were collected, but the results haven't come back yet. I was told the acquittal was due to a lack of evidence."

Since the incident, A has been prescribed sedatives, medication for panic disorder and sleeping pills. She stayed at her boyfriend's home for a time before returning to her own apartment, but she said even the sound of a knock sends her into a state of anxiety. She is now preparing to move out.

"On top of everything I'm going through, I now have to come up with money for moving costs — and the man downstairs is just going about his life as if nothing happened," she said. "I'm so angry."


choigo@heraldcorp.com