Court punishes craftsmen.
. The Bad Säckingen district court has sentenced a 58-year-old defendant from Murg for fraud to a fine of 20 daily rates of 20 euros each. He was accused of seeking legal advice from a lawyer in September 2019, although he was aware that he would not be able to pay the fee of 226 euros. He reacted with consolation to repeated requests for payment and once even claimed that he had already transferred the money, which was not the truth.
In his defense, the self-employed craftsman explained that he had been going through a difficult time in his private life, which also had an impact on his business. He himself had many outstanding debts that he had hoped to receive. Since he had to take over the entire bookkeeping in addition to the manual work, he had lost track of everything.
Judge Ulrike Götz, who saw the offense of fraud as fulfilled, would have gladly spared the hitherto innocent craftsman a conviction. She suggested that the proceedings against payment of a fine and the immediate settlement of the debt should be discontinued. Public prosecutor Tobias Haselwander did not agree with this because the defendant has not paid the 226 euros to this day.
The judge took into account the defendant’s current poor financial situation and reduced the penalty given in the penalty order from 1000 euros to 400 euros. But she also recalled that a law firm is also a business that depends on its income.
–
