A public service worker in his 20s was indicted and detained for trial on charges of illegally filming by installing a micro camera in a shopping arcade's women's restroom and spraying capsaicin on toilet paper.
According to legal sources on the 8th, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office Women and Children Crime Investigation Division 2 (Director General Park Ji-na) on the 2nd indicted a public service worker, a person surnamed Kim (21), under detention on charges of violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes and causing injury.
From January to April, Kim allegedly broke into the women's restroom of a shopping arcade building in Sillim-dong, Gwanak District, Seoul, seven times and installed a micro camera. Prosecutors believe Kim illegally filmed four women in the process. Kim is also accused of spraying capsaicin, a substance that produces a spicy sensation, on toilet paper in the same restroom on Apr. 26, causing injury to one woman.
The investigation began after a victim reported to police, complaining of pain after using the toilet paper. Kim reportedly turned himself in to police on Apr. 28, one day after the probe started. Police detained Kim on the 21st of last month.
In a police interview, Kim said the foreign substance on the toilet paper was adhesive used to install the camera, but an appraisal by the National Forensic Service reportedly confirmed the substance was capsaicin.
After receiving the case from police on the 26th of last month, prosecutors are said to have confirmed the timing of Kim's crimes by analyzing map application search histories. Kim reportedly once worked part-time at a store that had moved into the building.
Prosecutors sent the case to trial, saying the charges are clear based on evidence that the micro camera seized at the crime scene contained footage of Kim installing the device and that closed-circuit (CC) TV captured Kim entering the restroom.