Man threatened with chainsaw Ex-commander of the Swiss Guard sentenced

On Monday, the Meilen District Court sentenced a former commander of the Swiss Guard to a conditional prison sentence of ten months. The 51-year-old had threatened a man with a chainsaw.

Keystone-SDA

24.06.2024, 10:26

24.06.2024, 12:01

SDA

The court convicted the former security specialist of threatening, making false accusations and disobeying official orders. In addition to the conditional custodial sentence, the Swiss national will receive a fine of CHF 1,000 and be required to undergo psychotherapy during the two-year probationary period.

The court thus followed the prosecution's requests across the board. There is no doubt that the incident took place exactly as described in the indictment, said the judge at the opening of the verdict.

Frustration and revenge motives

The judge described it as "highly implausible" that the former Swiss Guardsman had held the chainsaw "only to protect himself", as he had testified at the trial. The incident had been triggered by his "jealous tendencies" and he had clearly acted out of frustration and revenge.

In November 2022, the former Swiss Guard commander and former head of the Glarus criminal investigation department set off a chainsaw in a garden on Lake Zurich to threaten the ex-boyfriend of his former partner, who happened to be present.

The security specialist had a child with this former partner, whom she apparently did not want to hand over to him that day. The completely frightened ex-boyfriend finally alerted the police. The man is still suffering from the psychological consequences today and was therefore awarded compensation of 1,000 francs.

However, the former Swiss Guard commander used the alleged rival as a defense strategy. The 51-year-old tried to make it credible at the trial that he had threatened him with a chainsaw. However, it was clear to the court that only the convicted man had set the chainsaw in motion and waved it around as a threat.

Once the municipal clerk of Zermatt

At the time of the chainsaw incident, the 51-year-old defendant was the municipal clerk of Zermatt. Because he suddenly stopped turning up at his workplace, his lawyer at the time told the media that the municipal clerk was "taking some time off".

It later emerged that he had been in custody in Zurich for 87 days. This meant he lost his job as municipal clerk, as well as his position as head of security at the 2025 Swiss Wrestling and Alpine Festival in Glarus.

It was not the first trial against the Swiss national, who once also worked in a management position with the Zurich cantonal police. Back in January 2021, he stood trial in Zurich district court for allegedly stalking and threatening another former partner. The court sentenced him to a conditional fine at the time. This sentence is now legally binding.