Pilsen pensioner gets suspended sentence for care home brawl

A court in Pilsen has handed a suspended sentence to pensioner Rydrich, who attacked a neighbour in a care home for older people. The dispute began over excrement left in a corridor. The verdict is not yet in force: the defendant appealed it in the courtroom, judge Vladimír Žák said.

According to the case file, in August last year Rydrich attacked a 78-year-old neighbour, identified in the case as B. J. The man had earlier quarrelled with another resident, who had defecated in the corridor and refused to clean up after himself straight away.

The victim said he asked the resident to clean up the mess and that the man first agreed, brought a bucket and a mop, but then changed his mind and swung a broomstick at him. He dodged, and the aggressor slipped and fell. “He was lying naked on the floor,” the victim said. At that point Rydrich stepped in: according to the man, he grabbed him by the T-shirt, punched him three times, then swung a knife at him and threatened to kill him.

The defendant denies everything. He says he only wanted to stand up for someone weaker. He claims there were no blows or threats, and that the knife was plastic — he had used it to open cans of cat food, as he was about to feed his cats.

Rydrich says he saw two men fighting in the corridor over a broom and asked the neighbour whether he could clean up. The neighbour replied that he was unwell but would tidy up in the morning. Then, in the defendant's version, the victim told him not to interfere, shoved him and headed for the other resident. Rydrich decided the man was going to attack again and pushed him against the wall to protect the resident.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz