crime
Trial against Jens Lehmann continues – verdict expected
Former national goalkeeper Jens Lehmann sees himself as a victim of false suspicion and character assassination. photo
© Sven Hoppe/dpa
Did the former national goalkeeper Jens Lehmann go into his neighbor’s garage with a chainsaw in his hand to saw a beam? The Starnberg district court rules on this.
In the trial against the former national soccer goalkeeper Jens Lehmann is expected to receive a verdict today at the Starnberg District Court. At the center of the allegations against the 54-year-old is a bizarre neighborhood dispute. The public prosecutor accuses him of breaking into his neighbor’s newly built garage with a chainsaw and sawing into a roof beam.
On the first day of the trial, Lehmann admitted that he had entered the garage with a chainsaw in his hand, but denied having sawed into the roof beam. A surveillance camera, the recordings of which were shown in the courtroom, recorded Lehmann using the chainsaw.
Another accusation
A verdict in the case could be pronounced today. It is the last day of the trial. Before that happens, there will be another accusation: Lehmann is said to have driven out of a parking garage at the airport without paying the parking fee – bumper to bumper with a car in front.
He is therefore accused of attempted fraud. In his statement to the court, the 54-year-old spoke of a misunderstanding and stated that he had not intended not to pay.
Lehmann feels misunderstood
The former goalkeeper and hero of the 2006 World Cup, who triumphed over Argentina’s shooters in the quarter-finals with the help of his famous penalty cheat sheet, is charged with trespassing and criminal damage as a result of the chainsaw episode. There is also the accusation of insulting him because he is said to have been abusive towards police officers who wanted to take away his driver’s license.
According to the court, witnesses have been invited to the parking garage complex in the morning. The pleadings in the proceedings could then be made in the early afternoon before a verdict is announced.
On the first day of the trial, the public prosecutor said “that you, Mr. Lehmann, are a person who, at the lower end of criminal liability, does not adhere to the law, but rather wants to ignore it.” Lehmann, on the other hand, feels misunderstood and sees himself as a victim of false suspicion and character assassination.