David Nalbandian!!!!

[Cosmic Joker]

Edna, is it necessarily "the aggrieved party" who has made the complaint? I think it's unlikely a tennis official would get the police involved in this way. Seems more likely that one or more TV viewers have phoned or emailed in the assault allegation to the Police. Possibly people who have a grudge either against Argentinians or highly paid sportmen in general, or who were just shocked by what they saw and have taken it upon themselves to get involved where most of us would leave it to those who were there to sort it out. Are the police still obliged to investigate if the allegation is from a third party? I expect they probably are.

 

[Kuipers Supporters Club]

Au contraire, I would say that given the evidence available- principally the television footage- it is almost certain he would be found guilty, as I can't possibly see what legal defence Nalbandian could mount. It's perfectly obvious to any observer how close the boards are to the official and that there was a risk of harm to him if the board was kicked with sufficient force. Frankly, if he was even charged, a solicitor would probably advise him to plead guilty at the first opportunity.

That said, I doubt very much that David Nalbandian has any previous criminal history in this country, being Argentinian, therefore assuming he was spoken to by police, and admitted the offence (he'd be mad not to under the circumstances), the likely outcome would be a police caution at the absolute worst.

And yes, the police no doubt do have more important things to be dealing with, but if the aggrieved party has made a complaint, and there is reasonable evidence of an offence having occurred, they are obliged to deal with it. They don't have the power to tell the old boy to do one, because the whole world has seen what happened. If I'm honest, I'm not quite sure what the aggrieved party is expecting will happen as a result: as I said previously, the worst I'd expect is a caution, so it's not like Nalbandian is going to be punished in any meaningful sense. Plus the criminal courts- if it by some miracle got that far- won't dish out massive compensation, so if he's after the money, he's going to be disappointed there.

Personally, if I was on the receiving end of that, I'd be annoyed at first, but ultimately it's pretty obvious the tennis player just had a moment of madness, he's lost a tournament he was well set up to win as a result, and he's bloody pissed off about it. That would be enough revenge for me. Frankly I wouldn't even entertain the notion of making a criminal complaint. But that's just me. Some people complain about far less.

There would surely be mitigating factors to take into account, such as where he was , and how much injury really was caused...

I agree that there is a very slim chance of this ever going to court. I think the line judge is making a bigger deal out of this than he should. I agree that there should be no complaint made, but we live in a more litigious society than ever before...