Property damage
November 14, 2011 | 35,00 EUR | answered by Dr. Dr. Danjel-Philippe Newerla
My 16-year-old son was checked and warned by the police on 11/11/11 at 8:00 pm because he was causing trouble with a group of teenagers under the influence of alcohol.
When he was walking home with his friend at 9:00 pm, they were stopped by the police again and ran away in fear. The police caught my son and treated him quite roughly (twisted his arm and slammed his upper body on the hood of a car). He had a blood alcohol level of 0.7 = 1.5 promille.
He is accused by the police of wanting to destroy a bus stop with sticks and stones with three teenagers in carnival costumes. There are allegedly 7 witnesses. My son says he didn't see anyone. The bus stop is fine. According to the witnesses, they were a group of four, but my son swears it was only him and his friend on the way home.
What are the consequences and how should I behave??
I obtained the exact information from the police on Saturday.
Best regards and quick response
Dear seeker of advice,
Thank you very much for your inquiry.
I would like to answer it as follows:
A criminal offense would only be present here if your son was actually proven to be involved in a criminal offense.
If your son, along with the other young people, damaged the little house (scratches on the paint or the plastic pane would be sufficient), this would constitute a punishable offense of property damage according to § 303 of the German Criminal Code.
Since in criminal law the principle of "in dubio pro reo" (in case of doubt in favor of the accused) applies, the specific action would have to be proven against your son.
However, since your son is still a minor, juvenile criminal law would apply, so he would probably not expect much punishment if the incident could be proven.
If the damage is not too high and your son has no prior criminal record, a complete termination of the proceedings according to § 45 of the Juvenile Court Act (possibly with conditions) could even be considered.
Based on your description, it is likely that they will not be able to prove anything against your son (unless the witnesses make false statements). Your son also has a witness (his friend) to testify that he was not involved in this action (if it even happened, which is doubtful according to your description).
Both you and your son should initially not make any statements. In criminal law, one does not need to incriminate oneself.
Your son generally does not have to comply with a summons to a police interrogation as a suspect. If your son is summoned to a interrogation or the proceedings against him continue, you should hire a specialist attorney for criminal law to represent your son's legal interests.
The colleague would first have to get an overview of the situation through access to the files. Then he would have to work out the defense strategy with your son.
I hope that I have been able to provide you with a first legal orientation and wish you much success and all the best!
I would like to point out the following to you:
The legal advice I provided is based solely on the information you provided. My response is only an initial legal assessment of the situation and cannot replace a comprehensive assessment. Adding or omitting relevant information can result in a completely different legal assessment.
I hope my explanations have helped you. Feel free to contact me through the follow-up option.
Have a pleasant Monday afternoon!
Kind regards from the North Sea coast
Dipl.-Jur. Danjel-Philippe Newerla, Attorney
