Ex-keeper Lehmann given big fine for chainsaw attack on garage

Former Germany and Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has been fined by a court in his home town of Starnberg after he attacked a neighbour's garage with a chainsaw.

The court imposed a total fine of €420,000 ($464,000) on Friday for damage to property, insulting behaviour and attempted fraud.

Lehmann had "consistently made himself out to be a victim of the justice system," judge Tanja Walter said. However, he was "not a victim, he is a perpetrator" and had presented "outrageous stories" in his defence in court.

The public prosecutor, who had asked for a suspended 10-month prison sentence too, accused the 54-year-old of breaking into his neighbour's newly-built garage with a chainsaw and sawing off a roof beam.

The dispute was over the garage blocking Lehmann's view of a lake from his Bavarian home.

There is "no doubt" that the accusations against the 2006 World Cup player are true, public prosecutor Stefan Kreutzer said. Lehmann had "simply wanted to get one over on his neighbour" and carried out "vigilante justice."

On the first day of the trial, Lehmann admitted that he had entered the garage with a chainsaw in his hand, but said he couldn't remember much else. He said the case was a "character assassination."

But the judge told him: "The only person who has behaved in a way that damages his own reputation is the defendant himself."

Lehmann's lawyer Christoph Rücker accused the prosecutor of "moralizing" and said the charges were "peanuts.".