“I thought he was going to kill my mother. I kept telling him to let go of her, but he wouldn’t let go. So I put him in a neck lock, but without tightening. I know the risks.” In May 2023, while a sixty-year-old woman and her 41-year-old daughter were walking their two dogs, off-leash, in the St-Cergue forest (VD), one of them, aged eight months, suddenly barked and chased the cyclist who had just passed them. The situation got so out of hand that the three protagonists (except the dog!) were tried on Tuesday at the Police Court in Nyon.
The man on the bike, who says he was afraid of being bitten, then chased the dog away, trying to kick it. But according to the forty-year-old, who held him back with her hand against his chest, the 67-year-old cyclist, who was “red” and “furious”, punched him with his shell glove. He talks about a slap. After which the mother used her walking stick to push him away, and was allegedly pinned to the ground by the man, who was straddling her. It was then that the latter’s daughter, a former detention officer, allegedly came to free her, with a neck lock. He disputes this part of the fight.
On Tuesday, the presiding judge tried at length to reach a conciliation. But in vain. The versions diverge and the three lawyers pleaded self-defense for their respective clients. “It is a chain of circumstances for which these ladies are primarily responsible (editor’s note: read the box)the cyclist’s lawyer said. It’s a momentary hysteria that is regrettable.” For the lawyer of the forty-year-old, “it was a gratuitous attack. Nothing justified such aggression on the part of the defendant.” As for the lawyer of the sixty-year-old, he deplores the post-traumatic stress that his client has developed and for which she is being treated.
Between contravention of the Vaud law on wildlife, assault and bodily harm, the two sixty-year-olds risk a suspended financial penalty and a fine, while the forty-year-old risks a firm financial penalty. Verdict next Monday.
When the leash is mandatory
Regardless of the season, the law requires the owner to have control of his dog at all times. In addition, in the cantons of Vaud, Geneva and Fribourg, between April and July, dogs must be kept on a leash when walking in the forest. The measure aims to protect wildlife during this breeding and birthing period. In the Neuchâtel forests, on the other hand, the obligation ends on June 30. But everywhere, the latter is causing grumbling among owners, who are demanding more flexibility.
