Dispute over unripe hazelnuts Actor takes family man to the hood
An argument escalated over a handful of hazelnuts in the parking lot of a school in the canton of Zurich. A man was hit several times with a car. The Dielsdorf district court has now handed down a verdict.
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- In the Zurich lowlands, unripe hazelnuts led to violence.
- Because he ate unripe nuts, a father of a family was insulted by another man and hit by car.
- The accused denied the allegations in court, but there is a video.
Hazelnuts? They actually stand for delicious chocolate and a classic Christmas movie. In the Zurich lowlands, however, they led to a heated argument including assault with a dangerous object, attempted damage to property and multiple assaults, as the Dielsdorf district court has now ruled.
The episode took place two years ago in the parking lot of a school in the Zurich lowlands, reports the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung". At the time, a family man, now almost 40 years old, tore off the branch of a hazelnut bush and ate the unripe nuts. The accused, a 60-year-old Swiss actor, found this "not okay".
The accused is said to have insulted and abused the father of the family, who is originally from Kosovo and appeared as a private plaintiff in the trial. According to the indictment, the words "huere Usländer" and "Sauhund" were used, and the man's children had "shit roots".
Video convicts the perpetrator
But the verbal altercation did not stop there. The accused is said to have spat in the private plaintiff's face and pushed him against the chest, punched him several times with his fists and kicked him with his feet.
When the beating victim pulled out his cell phone to call the police, it was allegedly knocked out of his hand by the defendant. The plaintiff then tried to prevent the defendant from driving away and blocked his car. This in turn led to the actor pushing the father of the family in front of him with the hood: twice, each time four to five meters away.
The plaintiff, who suffered several bruises in the incident and was certified by a doctor as being unable to work for four days, demanded compensation of CHF 8,900 and damages of CHF 1,540 from the defendant.
The defendant denied the allegations in court, admitting to an "irritated" tone of voice but no use of violence. However, a witness related to the plaintiff by marriage captured the scenes with the car on video. Although the defense tried to prevent it from being admitted as evidence and demanded a full acquittal.
Both sides clearly exaggerated
Both motions failed in court. However, the judge did not uphold the prosecution on all points either. The public prosecutor had originally charged seven criminal offenses: endangering life, simple assault with a dangerous object, simple assault, damage to property, verbal abuse, gross violation of traffic regulations and multiple assaults.
Three remain: simple assault with a dangerous object, attempted damage to property and multiple assaults. Both the defendant and the plaintiff had made contradictory, embellishing or exaggerated statements. The defendant was sentenced to a conditional prison term of seven months, a conditional fine of 20 daily rates and a fine of CHF 500. The court did not award any compensation or damages for the private plaintiff and referred the case to civil proceedings.
