Man from Znojmo region locked woman in pig pen, sentenced to five years imprisonment
Viktor Götz from the Znojmo region shaved a woman's head and locked her in a pen with pigs. The Brno regional court confirmed his sentence of five years imprisonment on Tuesday.
Brno court confirms five years imprisonment for abuse of woman on Znojmo farm
Novinky.cz reports on a case from spring of this year, when an attack occurred on a farm in the Znojmo region that the Brno judge Vlastimír Čech described as a serious assault on human dignity. Viktor Götz and his associate Tomáš Brunclík lured one of the residents of the shared property into the kitchen and attacked her.
Brunclík tied the woman to a chair with cling film, while Götz shaved approximately three-quarters of her head and subsequently sprayed her with spray. He also directed the spray at the woman's dog, which fled in fear and did not return. Throughout this time, those present were amused and laughing — someone recorded the attack on a mobile phone.
But the mistreatment did not end there. Götz drove the woman out into the yard and locked her in a pen with pigs and chickens, where she had to lie on manure, weeping. Another resident of the farm eventually freed her from the pen.
Sentences for both defendants
Znojmo district court sentenced Götz to five years imprisonment — not only for the attack on the woman, but also for damaging road signs, threatening behaviour and theft of a mobile phone. Brunclík received a two-year suspended sentence with a two-and-a-half-year deferment for restricting personal liberty.
Both men appealed to the regional court in Brno, and neither of them appeared personally for the hearing. Brunclík's defence lawyer argued that the conduct was at most a misdemeanour. Götz's lawyer objected to the disproportionate severity of the sentence, citing the fact that his client had admitted guilt for most of the acts.
"Claiming this was about hygiene is audacity"
The panel headed by judge Čech rejected the appeals of both men. Čech explicitly objected to the defence argument that binding and shaving the woman was intended to remove lice.
"The attack in the kitchen was unprovoked. The defendants were amused and laughing while doing it, and indeed someone present recorded it on a mobile phone. And claiming this was about hygiene is audacity," said the judge.
Čech also stated that the panel considered the five-year sentence for Götz to be rather lenient: "Driving someone out at night into a pig pen and forcing them to lie on manure we regard as a serious assault on human dignity. If the public prosecution office had appealed, we would have considered increasing the sentence." The ruling is now final.
Source: Novinky.cz