The public prosecutor had requested a seven-year custodial sentence and the defense lawyer had argued for acquittal. In the end, the Sarine Court split the decision in two and sentenced a thirty-year-old Kosovar to 3 and a half years in prison. In addition, he will be expelled from Switzerland for a period of twelve years and he will be fined 100 francs.
If the sentence is more lenient than prosecutor Raphaël Bourquin would have liked, it is because the defendant was ultimately acquitted of a good part of the charges against him, in particular the rapes and sexual coercion denounced by his ex- female. But, apart from several minor offenses, the judges still accepted an attempted murder.
One evening in June 2019, while he was drunk, the accused went by taxi to the front of his former in-laws’ home, armed with a knife. After telling the driver “You wait here. I cut off the head and I come back with you,” he presented himself at the front door of the home. But, having been warned of the man’s evil designs by his cousin, his ex-father-in-law had fortunately not opened the door. In the end, the Kosovar was apprehended by the police, called by the taxi driver.
The thirty-year-old was also convicted of unfair management. After the separation, he had developed a scheme to register, for remuneration, dozens of vehicles belonging to travelers, in the name of the company which, officially at least, belonged to his ex-wife and of which he was the manager. But her ex didn’t know anything about it, until the day she started receiving plums instead of the gypsies.
Neither the public prosecutor nor the accused are satisfied with this verdict. Both will therefore file an appeal, after receiving the reasoned judgment. Until then, defense lawyer Sébastien Bossel does not wish to comment. Neither does the prosecutor. On the other hand, with regard to the fines received by the ex-wife, the Public Prosecutor’s Office points out that: “these were only administrative fines. Their judgment was therefore not within the competence of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.” In short, at this stage, there is no guarantee that it will not be forced to pay them.
