A man in his 40s has been sentenced to ten months in prison for biting off another man's fingertip during a brawl at a private football match in Västerbotten last October. The fight broke out during the game and escalated despite interventions from other players. The court rejected the man's claim of self-defense.
The incident occurred last October during a private football match in a sports hall in Västerbotten. Fifteen men had gathered to play five against five. The fight between the two men started when one was about to throw in the ball and the later convicted man kicked it away.
According to witnesses, the man who was to throw in jumped onto the convicted man's back, after which they began fighting. The other players had to intervene three times to separate them. Both men received scratch marks on their faces, and the convicted man sustained an injury to a finger.
During the third intervention, they ended up on the ground, and that was when the convicted man bit off the other's fingertip. In interrogation, he stated that it happened by mistake and in self-defense, despite being attacked each time. The court, however, did not find the violence severe enough to justify self-defense.
The man in his 40s, who has no prior convictions, was sentenced to ten months in prison and ordered to pay damages to the victim. The assaulted man told interrogators that the finger has begun to heal but is now shorter and lacks sensation in the tip.