On April 11, 2022, the Berettyóújfalu District Court pronounced a verdict on the case of a former police officer who was constantly following, harassing, and threatening to kill his ex-partner. The man made harassing phone calls even while on duty.
During the preparatory hearing, the prosecutor presented the indictment. The prosecutor’s office issued a so-called substantial motion for a sentence against the accused in the case of a confession and a waiver of the right to a trial. The man admitted to committing the crimes in accordance with the indictment and waived his right to a trial, which was accepted by the court.
The court of the first instance found the man guilty of a crime of harassment, an offense of bodily harm and a crime of harassment.
Therefore, in line with the prosecutor’s substantive motion, the court sentenced him to 1 year and 6 months in prison, the execution of which was suspended for a 2-year probation period.
According to the verdict, the accused, a former honorary police ensign, lived in a cohabiting relationship with the victim from August 2011 to early June 2019. The relationship between the man and the woman deteriorated as early as the fall of 2018, so the victim had already called on the defendant to move out of the house she owned but shared. The man refused to do so, so there were constant quarrels between them, which resulted in the victim moving out of her own house on 6 June 2019. The property was later sold by the woman to the accused.
The defendant could not accept the disconnection, and the man called the victim several times a day and demanded that she move back to him, because if she did not do so, she would be abused and killed. The accused also regularly followed his ex-partner from her workplace in Berettyóújfalu to the school of their common child, and from there to the apartment.
Between July 6, 2019, and November 13, 2019, the former police officer called his ex-partner a total of 8,115 times. The calls were made an average of 30 times a day, but if the woman did not answer the man’s calls, it rose to 50-60 times.
The police ensign made harassing phone calls even while on duty.
During his calls, the man informed the victim that if she did not live with him, she would not be with anyone else, and then threatened to hit her with a car. The accused also followed the victim on July 15, 2019, who announced that she would go to the police and ask for help. To this, the accused threatened the woman and said that if she did so, he will kill her. A few days later, the man was already threatening to kill and beat the terrified woman, who reported the accused on July 26, 2019, to the Debrecen Regional Investigation Prosecutor’s Office for ongoing harassment. The defendant’s employment was then terminated.
On October 23, 2019, the man spat on the victim in front of a grocery store in Berettyóújfalu and then hit her.
A few days later, the accused waited for the woman returning from work, who asked him to leave her alone and leave. The man refused to do so, then hit the woman. The victim suffered minor injuries during the incident. The act was apt to frighten those who perceived it as an alarm.
Judge Dr. László Kiss assessed the proliferation of such and similar crimes as an aggravating circumstance during the reasoning of the verdict, but at the same time considered the accused’s criminal record and his remorseful behavior as an attenuating circumstance.
The court’s verdict was not final, it was noted by the prosecutor’s office, but the defendant and his counsel filed an appeal for relief. The case continues at the Debrecen General Court.
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