Clothes cut up

Prominent ex-footballer stalked his ex-wife

The defendant was one of the most successful footballers of his time.

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Cut up clothes, dog excrement on the door buckle, hundreds of phone calls - a prominent ex-footballer stood trial in Graz on Monday for stalking his ex-wife and making dangerous threats to her supposed new boyfriend. And only narrowly escaped a prison sentence.

"The last year was the most difficult of my life. Everything collapsed," the ex-footballer told judge Erik Nauta. "The great love gone, the children gone..." - "Yes, if you read through the file, you might get the idea that you couldn't cope with the separation," says the judge.

Obscene insults
Everything had gotten a little out of hand, he tried to put things into perspective. The presiding judge doesn't want to let that stand. "You cut up your wife's clothes and smeared them with insults. You smashed a display case and rammed a pair of scissors into a shelf. You must have realized that you wouldn't win your wife back like that." - "I don't want to!" emphasizes the former professional footballer.

Do you realize that her behaviour was not right? I need something that looks like remorse.

Richter Erik Nauta

"Why are you destroying the furniture?" the judge continues. "She moved everything to the side. I paid 99.9 percent for 17 years. And then she comes for the display case, which I probably also paid for," the former Bundesliga footballer and multiple national team player tries to explain.

He tends to trivialize things
"You're a footballer, you should know a thing or two about tactics," Judge Nauta advises him between the lines. Because the athlete tends to trivialize his behaviour. He had never chased his now ex-wife for half an hour by car. "Maybe two minutes." And only because he wanted to give her a bag.

"But can you see that your behavior was not okay? I need something that looks like remorse," Nauta tries. "Of course I regret it. I know it wasn't right." He only gets emotional when he talks about his daughters, whom he is not allowed to see. Tears flow.

Judge Erik Nauta

(Bild: Stockner)

I hope it's really over now. In your interest. There's no celebrity bonus.

Richter Erik Nauta

"You know that you came very close to going to prison," emphasizes public prosecutor Patrizia Weber. "What can you expect if your ex-wife has a new boyfriend?" - "Nothing. I don't care. I've given it a lot of thought. I have finished. I'm not a danger."

"More of a quiet type"
Nevertheless, the judge believes that anti-violence training is "necessary and appropriate. As a footballer, you also have to learn to deal with aggression," he appeals. Even if the defendant doesn't think he needs it. "I'm more of a calm type, you can ask my wife." - "I would infer aggression from the secateurs on the shelf," interjects the public prosecutor.

The sentence: a fine of 9,000 euros, four months' probation and a word of advice: "Leave your wife alone. I hope it's really over now. For your own sake." The verdict is not final.