Wealthy scion's sentence cut for sex charges
Published: 21 Nov 2012 21:49 GMT+01:00 | Print version
Updated: 21 Nov 2012 21:49 GMT+01:00
Zurich multimillionaire Carl Hirschmann has won a reduction in his firm prison sentence from 14 to 12 months for charges of sexual assault and multiple sex with children.
The Zurich supreme court on Wednesday also imposed a 20-month suspended sentence along with a three-year probation period against Hirschmann, a 32-year-old playboy and one-time nightclub owner.
The sentence was more lenient than one issued by a district court in September 2011.
The reduced penalty was issued largely because Hirschmann was acquitted in a case of sexual harassment on the terrace of his former Saint-Germain club on the Bahnhofstrasse and of charges of multiple attempted coercion.
During the course of the appeal, Hirschmann admitted having forced a childhood girlfriend to perform an act of fellatio on him in the toilets, the ATS news service reported.
This reversed testimony he had given at the lower court.
He also admitted having slapped a former girlfriend and threatened to post intimate photos of her on the internet if she filed a complaint against him.
Hisrchmann earlier admitted to having sexual relations with a 15-year-old schoolgirl.
He has subsequently apologized to the teen and her family and paid her for damages, Tages Anzeiger reported.
His lawyer said his client suffered from "attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder", which when combined with alcohol, impaired his judgment.
Hirschmann, who has been living in London and earlier paid five million francs bail to ensure his court appearance, will qualify for "half-time arrest” with the reduced sentence, so it appears he will be able to spend much of his time outside of jail.
The heir to a fortune of several hundred million francs, he is the grandson of the founder of Jet Aviation, a plane leasing company.
He opened the Saint-Germain club in 2007 but closed it four years later after the scandals surrounding the charges and the death of his father.
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