Verdict in Lucerne Man drives over landlord after argument - prison

A long-running dispute in central Switzerland ends with the tenant running over his landlord. Now the man has to go to prison.

A long-running rental dispute in a rural community near Lucerne escalated in January 2021 when a tenant hit his landlord with his car in a parking lot in front of their shared apartment building.

The incident occurred while the landlord was shoveling snow, as "Zentralplus" writes, citing a ruling by the Lucerne Criminal Court. Instead of driving into his parking space, the 56-year-old tenant is said to have deliberately driven backwards towards the landlord.

The landlord, who was standing with his back to the car, was hit by the rear of the vehicle, thrown several meters through the air and suffered injuries when he crashed into a pile of snow and a wall. After the incident, the tenant even insulted the injured landlord and accused him of damaging the car.

Long-standing conflict

However, this incident was only the culmination of a long-running conflict. The tenant had previously terrorized his landlord for years, including by sending letters with unfounded accusations. In these letters, he accused the landlord of molesting his underage daughter and of being a paedophile, among other things, which later turned out to be completely unfounded.

After the drive-over incident, the tenant was evicted from the house by the police. However, he broke into the house again and manipulated the locks so that they could no longer be opened from the outside. In addition, a revolver and an air rifle were found in his possession without the appropriate authorization.

In addition to these crimes, the man was also convicted of stealing folders from a regional debt collection office, writes "Zentralplus". During an appointment, he stole six to eight folders containing sensitive documents and later threatened to pass them on to a female official in order to get her into trouble. His justification was that he wanted to draw attention to abuses in the storage of documents.

Man goes to prison

The Lucerne criminal court sentenced the 56-year-old to a two-year prison sentence, which will be carried out unconditionally, as he already has several previous convictions, including for violations of road traffic and environmental laws. One conviction from 2019, in which he was sentenced to a conditional prison sentence for abducting his daughter to the Caribbean after the authorities decided to take custody away from her parents, was particularly serious.

As the man continued to commit crimes, the court now decided to impose the prison sentence without probation. The convicted man has appealed against the sentence.