Estonian court sends man to 4 years in jail for stabbing police officer

Photo: Toomas Huik / Postimees

The Tartu county court on Thursday handed down a four-year jail sentence to a man who stabbed and injured an on-duty police officer in Jogeva county in December last year.

The prosecution had sought the accused, identified by his first name and age as Timo, 25, to be jailed for six years for attempted homicide. The court changed the charge to violence against a representative of state authority, finding that it was not proven in court that the accused wanted to kill the officer, and meted out a sentence of four years in jail.

The accused must also pay 2,153 euros to cover the costs of the proceeding.

According to the charge sheet, the accused attacked a member of a police patrol that had entered an apartment in Sadukula village in the Puurmani rural municipality responding to a nighttime noise complaint on the night to Dec. 14 last year.

Being in a state of alcohol intoxication, Timo hit the police officer with a knife targeting the officer's neck.

«Since we are speaking of a police officer, who as we know has received relevant training, the officer managed to protect the vital body part but was hit by the knife in the region of a shoulder,» district prosecutor Anneli Hinto said.

Timo had a prior crime record for robbery and theft.