Court rules attacker not criminally culpable

A judge has ruled that the man who violently attacked a woman in a street in Baar in broad daylight last year is not criminally culpable as he was, and still is, suffering from schizophrenia. Hence, he is to be treated while sectioned.   

Regular readers may remember the incident last August when a 25-year-old woman was attacked on the street by a 34-year-old assailant. Fortunately, witnesses intervened, and the attacker was able to be arrested, but not before the victim had been kicked on the head. Nevertheless, she was able to leave hospital only a few days later. As was subsequently found out, the pair had met each other in connection with activities surrounding the Podium 41 centre in Zug.

During the one-and-a-half-day hearing, the judge frequently had to tell the accused to answer the questions asked, while the latter insisted on saying he needed to explain the background situation, as he claimed he, himself, had been the victim of a lengthy period of harassment by a group of people connected with the victim and her partner.

The victim was also present in court. She wanted to ensure that the accused would never ever be in a position to endanger to her family again. Prior to his attacking her that day, he had also attacked her step-daughter, though to a lesser extent, the victim’s toddler son also witnessing the attack.

The defence counsel requested that the hearing be adjourned in order to interview other witnesses, though this was rejected.

Through interviews conducted in a remand prison in Stans in the canton of Nidwalden, it became known that the accused had previously been treated at the Zugersee Psychiatric Clinic but medication had been withdrawn, the doctor saying it had no longer been necessary. The accused also practised a sport known as "grappling", though he referred to this as “hardly violent”. Then choker-levers were found at his home, though he claimed these were only “spiritual weapons”. Also found on his premises were hate-lists, on which his mother, whom he had also previously attacked, also featured. When asked about all this in court, he dismissed them as being merely “snapshot images” of his life.

It became clear to the judge that the accused had never really enjoyed a settled existence, first registering with at the social authorities in Zug as long as 15 years ago. Then he had only had jobs of a temporary nature. He had thought of going to Zurich, but he felt the city too right-wing. Then he had thought of moving to French-speaking Switzerland, where he felt people accepted him more as he was. “The main thing was to get away from capitalist Zug,” he maintained.

As to the attack in Baar last year, he regretted this now. When one witness said he would have continued attacking his victim had they not intervened, he denied this.

When a psychiatrist was called to give evidence, he said that he did not believe the accused’s claims he was being harassed by his future victim. He said he was lying and told him so. “He is schizophrenic. He is dangerous and needs to be sectioned until he is better,” he said.

Indeed, this is also what the prosecution called for as the public needed protecting.

For his part, the counsel for defence called for out-patient treatment of his client’s problems. “I concede my client’s behaviour was that of a man with an of unsound mind, but this was as a result of long-term harassment, not mental illness.”

Speaking on behalf of the victim, her lawyer denied she had conducted a campaign of harassment against the attacker.

As mentioned, the attacker was duly sectioned for an undetermined period as it was deemed highly likely he could reoffend.