Because he hit and kicked a man at the Neuching beach party, a 25-year-old was sentenced to imprisonment (symbolic image) © David-Wolfgang Ebener/dpa
Because he beat and kicked a man at the Neuching beach party, a 25-year-old was sentenced to imprisonment. He also has to go to a rehab center.
Southern district – A 25-year-old went completely berserk last November at the beach party of the Oberneuching boys' club. He had knocked a 27-year-old to the ground and then kicked the unconscious man in the head with his foot (we reported). On Monday, the verdict was issued: The 25-year-old is guilty of dangerous bodily harm. The court imposed a prison sentence of four years, and the addicted man must also be sent to a detention center.
Because at the time of the crime, the defendant had a wild mixture of intoxicants intus. A few joints, a few lines, plus a lot of alcohol: "That can be problematic," said district court physician Dr. Hubert Näger in the trial against the assembly worker from Erlangen. For three days of hearings, the parties to the proceedings before the first criminal chamber of the Landshut Regional Court dealt with his freak out.
In the end, the chamber imposed a prison sentence of four years. In addition, at the request of the public prosecutor's office and the defense, the placement of the addicted man in a detention center was ordered. An anticipatory execution was not pronounced. The defendant can thus immediately go to therapy.
Defense attorney Maximilian Kaiser had requested an "appropriate, moderate prison sentence" of two years and six months. Prosecutor Julia Knauer had demanded a prison sentence of five and a half years, whereby she had moved away from the accusation of attempted homicide. Although "many things" would speak in favor of an intent to kill, Knauer said in her plea, "final doubts remain" and so a decision had to be made according to the legal principle "in dubio pro reo".
Presiding judge Ralph Reiter pointed out in the verdict that it was "about nuances". But even in the case of the dangerous bodily injury that has now been convicted, it is "not a trivial offense". The relatively harsh sentence of four years also had a deterrent effect. The jury court had to deal with kicks for the fourth time this year: "It's just enough."
The beach party was attended by around 1200 party-goers. According to witnesses, the defendant had attracted unpleasant attention several times. When the victim asked him to leave the premises in the morning hours, pushed and insulted him, the 25-year-old struck. "Without thinking" he had stepped "as if out of an impulse", he had admitted at the beginning of the trial. The 27-year-old escaped with injuries and horror. "The fact that there were no more serious injuries was "merely due to chance," according to the forensic medical report.
According to Reiter, after the taking of evidence, the chamber assumed a "spontaneous unity of punch and kick". Even the layman knows that punches and kicks to the head can be life-threatening, but: "He must also want it." The board had not come to the conclusion that this was the case with the 25-year-old.
The visibly repentant defendant had benefited from a perpetrator-victim settlement: Even before the trial, he had paid 2500 euros in compensation for pain and suffering to the injured party. He had not accepted an apology in the courtroom, but declared that the matter was settled for him.
Dr. Näger had attested to the defendant's limited ability to control due to mixed intoxication at the time of the crime. The Chamber saw no reason for a mitigation of the sentence in this. The 25-year-old knew about his disposition and still let himself be filled, according to Reiter. The verdict is final. nig
