Twenty-two-year-old exonerated of charges relating to knife incident

Some readers may remember an incident involving a knife attack which took place outside the Podium 41 community centre in the summer of 2017 when a 22-year-old man wielding a knife inflicted life-threatening wounds on another young man.

The 22-year-old, from Baar, had been charged with attempted murder, the prosecution calling for a six-year prison sentence.

It was in a night-time altercation with a group of young men outside the centre, which was closed at the time, that the 22-year-old had his mobile phone taken and demanded it back. However, the man who had taken it held on to it, whereupon the 22-year-old took a knife out of his rucksack, one he carried “just to be able to strike back hard in an emergency situation”. A brawl ensued with the subsequent victim breaking a beer bottle indicating this would be thrown at the 22-year-old, whereupon the latter then made use of his knife, inflicting serious internal wounds in his assailant, who took some time to recover.

In court, the judges ruled this was not a case of attempted murder but one of grievous bodily harm. The accused had previously said that he only intended to hurt his assailant’s arm, to prevent an attack (with the bottle) but the latter turned round at the last moment, the knife penetrating his chest. The judges ruled it was only by chance that the victim was stabbed in the chest.

Furthermore, the judges ruled the 22-year-old was only acting in self-defence. “All in all, the one could say the knife attack was justified,” said one lady judge, adding, however, that stabbing someone simply to get a mobile phone back was not acceptable. She ruled the decisive point in all this was the 22-year-old’s fear of being attacked with a broken bottle.

Hence the 22-year-old was exonerated of all charges, leading him, much relieved, to fall into the arms of members of his family. His assailant did not appear in court.

It is not yet known whether the prosecution will appeal against this ruling, which is not yet absolute.