One of Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer’s sons has been handed a 16-month suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of robbery, attempted blackmail and traffic violations.
The contrite defendant told a court on Thursday that the pressure of having a well-known father and constant media attention had contributed to his behavior. The court had earlier rejected appeals from his lawyer to impose reporting restrictions.
The man was arrested after committing a robbery on a train in January 2016 together with an accomplice. They had tried to force the victim to withdraw money from an ATM, but only ended up with some perfume worth around CHF50 ($50) and some customer cards that had no value.
According to the court indictment, he later resisted arrest and caused damage to a police cell.
The court also heard of a previous offence of crashing a car whilst the defendant was over the alcohol limit. Another traffic violation and an offence of insulting a train ticket inspector were also taken into account during the hearing.
The defendant was also handed a 60-day fine of CHF80 for each day. The prison sentence was suspended for two years. “I have learned from my mistakes. It will not happen again,” he told the court.
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