In the trial surrounding an alleged attack with a chainsaw on his neighbor’s garage, former national soccer goalkeeper Jens Lehmann sees himself as the victim of false suspicions and speaks of character assassination. “I just went in to see what he was actually doing,” said the 54-year-old on Friday in front of the Starnberg district court about the garage that was under construction at the time. “What’s worse? Murder or character assassination?” he asked in his long remarks.
He only had a chainsaw with him because he had previously cut his neighbor’s hedge – at his request. The accusation of trespassing that the public prosecutor’s office has made against him is therefore not true, said the 2006 World Cup hero, who stated that his current job was “unemployed football coach”. Prosecutor Stefan Kreutzer then asked what kind of hedge it was. Because: “I have never seen a person trimming a hedge with a chainsaw.”
In their indictment, the public prosecutor’s office accuses Lehmann, among other things, of sawing a roof beam in his neighbor’s garage with a chainsaw last summer. According to the prosecution, the alleged crime was preceded by years of neighborhood disputes – including over the fact that Lehmann’s garage blocked the view of Lake Starnberg from his property. A surveillance camera filmed Lehmann with the running chainsaw in his hand.
Prosecutor Lehmann asked on Friday why he had put the chainsaw on the wooden beam. His answer: “I don’t know anymore.” Before his client’s statement, Lehmann’s lawyer Christoph Rückel read out a defense statement in which he emphasized above all that the neighborhood dispute and also civil disputes had been resolved: “It was an action in which frustration played a major role on both sides, but the escalation is finished.”
Jens Lehmann is said to have used a chainsaw on this garage, which was still under construction at the time of the crime.
(Photo: Nila Thiel)
Lehmann is also charged in the proceedings with insulting police officers and with fraud because he did not want to pay the fees in a parking garage. He cited misunderstandings. He was waiting for an invoice that never came. And he didn’t call the police officer who tried to take away his driver’s license a liar – but said she lied.
Lehmann repeatedly made allegations against the public prosecutor and saw “double standards”. If he wants to report someone, the proceedings are always stopped, but charges against him are never stopped. Public prosecutor Kreutzer rejected the allegations and said to the ex-national player “that you, Mr. Lehmann, are a person who, at the lower end of criminal liability, does not adhere to the law but wants to ignore it.”
In 2006, Lehmann became the celebrated goalkeeper of the home World Cup, the “summer fairy tale”, – especially through his brilliant performance in the penalty shootout against Argentina in the quarter-finals. During his active time he played at FC Schalke 04, Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal FC in London, among others.