Two years after an attack on comedian Oliver Pocher on the sidelines of a boxing match in Dortmund, a criminal trial against the rapper Fat Comedy begins this Friday. The hearing before the Dortmund district court had been postponed several times. According to the court spokesman, Pocher is a co-plaintiff and has been invited as a witness. The rapper is accused of intentional bodily harm. He is said to have hit Pocher in the face during Felix Sturm’s boxing match in the Westfalenhalle in March 2022, causing the comedian to suffer ear damage and hearing impairments, among other things. Videos show the attacker punching him in the face without warning.
A court spokesman said Pocher was scheduled to be the only witness. If no new investigative approaches emerge during the hearing or if further collection of evidence is deemed necessary, a verdict could be made on Friday. There will also be the question of who made the video that circulated online for a long time. The rapper distributed the recordings on the Internet and commented on them.
His lawyer Burkhard Benecken from Marl told the German Press Agency that his client regretted the attack, had already voluntarily paid 2,000 euros in compensation to Pocher and apologized to him in a lawyer’s letter. Accordingly, the 25-year-old wanted to speak publicly in the courtroom on Friday. “He distances himself from the slap in the face” and realizes that what he did was completely wrong. He did not plan the attack. His client was often bullied in his youth because of his enormous physical size – and he saw Pocher as someone “who put others down”. This is how the spontaneous act came about.
In a civil case in July 2023, the Frankfurt regional court sentenced the rapper to 50,000 euros in compensation and compensation. His Düsseldorf lawyer in the civil proceedings had filed an appeal. According to Benecken, the case is before the Higher Regional Court. In his civil lawsuit, Pocher had demanded 10,000 euros in compensation and 90,000 euros for the violation of general personal rights.
“We want to conclude the criminal case on Friday if possible,” said Benecken. In the case of simple bodily harm, he believes a fine is realistic, which his mandate will accept as long as it does not result in a “very unusually high penalty”.
