70-year-old fined for slapping cheeky youth

Well, the fact is that he DID slap the boy, so finding him innocent would have been tough, especially since the current laws are set up to prosecute such behavior. However, this could set in motion a review of the rights of adults and children as well as an examination of the responsibilities of parents. Thankfully, this guy won't have to pay the fine out of his own pocket - there have been enough donations to cover it. I would really like to see the parents of the boy brought before the judge and asked why their kid is so disrespectful. The fact that this is not done is a systemic failure.

Both were wrong. Being rude is not nice, but violence is not the solution for name-calling.

The parents of the kid should feel ashamed. Sadly, by slapping the kid the man proved the kid right, that he is an old fart. All he did teach the kid is that if someone calls you a name you disapprove of it is okay to resort to violence.

It is sad to see such an old man still hasn't learned you will never win respect with violence. I guess he is mixing-up the words 'fear' and 'respect' with each other.

To be brief, both are a pair of tosspots. One disrespects someone and another one reacts with violence towards a non-violent action.

@Stockhom Sam .:-I would really like to see the parents of the boy brought before the judge and asked why their kid is so disrespectful. The fact that this is not done is a systemic failure. ""

I agree with this, it seems to me that the Parents are also to blame, a well behaved child should not be riding his bicycle where it is forbidden and he certainly should not have insulted the elderly gentleman !

Let the Parents appear in Court to explain just how and why they failed to bring up their child in a decent manner !

This fine is wrong! The boy, and the boy's parents, needed to be taught a lesson. It is a good example of spineless, out-of-control, liberalism, and political correctness, run amok! I hope he appeals. On pinciple.

If the kid had not called him an old fart in the first place non of this would have happened. I do not class a slapping as violence. All the court has done is to tell these kids that it is ok to disrespect people of any age and get away with it. This boy will be classed as a hero at school.

It is stupid to fine a pensioner for slapping a rude cub. Sometimes certain physical punishment for kids is more reasonable than preaching them from being rude. Now after the case it seems the child will find himself has the right to assault others without being punished.

BTW, what would be our reaction if experience those untouchable inurbane kids? Just let them destroy your property, assault and throw stones to you and finally send you into hospital?

Old slapper got slapped 3000 back, that's a lot of booze. I don't know what principle he is trying to appeal to, is not age that brings respect but conduct. Bah he's probably out of his marbles anyway.

@Hagen

"I would really like to see the parents of the boy brought before the judge and asked why their kid is so disrespectful"

You would probably need a court interpreter to speak to the parents.

I think that both parties were in the wrong - however the adult should have behaved like one rather than responding in a childish way. Escalating the conflict into violence is never the answer - would people be defending the teenager if he had hit back at the pensioner - probably we we would have been rightly disgusted.

I know from my own mother that there are some pensioners who go by the motto 'I'm old so I can do as I want' - will we be condoning teenagers htting grumpy and rude pensioners

@Puffin. You're the reason Sweden is the way it is. You are a hopeless liberal incapable of independent thaught. "Both are wrong". Ha! Only the 12-year old's parents are wrong!

I would like to buy the "old fart" a beer at Harry's in Värnamo. Good for him; no apologies for what the little pissant's parents should have done long before.

He assaulted a minor and was convicted. What surprises me is that the police actually pursued the case. I have understood that 6 out of 10 assaults on children in Sweden are not investigated! I had a six year old assaulted in a similar circumstance - except he was learning to cycle in the back yard of our apartment building and did not give him any lip. We reported the assault to the police but they did not look into for 6 weeks and then did nothing. At the time my initial view was that it was not that serious but on reflection I come from Ireland and given the child abuse that has occurred there, I am now of the view that children need to understand that their physical integrity cannot be compromised and ANY assault should not be tolerated. Tolerating this type of assault, however minor, sends a signal that it is OK for adults to physically engage with them.

In principle the man has broken the law,however, such mitigating circumstances should have resulted in a 'technical' fine - for example, 10 Krone. At least then the courts would not be seen as prosecuting one wrong whilst giving 'moral support' to another wrong.

It is inconceivable that a 12 year old in this day and age does not have a realistic sense of respectful behaviour. Even if he has not been taught it by his parents, he learns it in the school system.

Of course, the retaliatory response could have simply been verbal instead of physical,which probably would have been preferrable. The defendant here was not simply defending his pride, he was also discharging a duty of care in respect of public amenities.

A strange society, West ! The old fart has made a mistake to claim his dignity. The judge has punished the effect, not the cause of that effect and such is the intelligent society. What happens if I call everyone's father or mother an Old Fart ???

What I see now is streets full of teen agers cruising on bikes, yelling Old Fart ! Old Fart ! and senior citizens running to protect themselves But the teen agers are lucky as old farts cant run fast !!!

Strange, on one hand you spend millions of kronors on these old farts n on the other hand you let loose your kids on them. You dont let these old farts die so as your kids have more fun ????

Voilence is a crime but one has to look at the circumstances, too. Following law for the sake of law is stupidity and kills the very spirit of law - to structure human conducts. This judgement has transmitted a very wrong message into the society and I think the old man should appeal against this decision so as to make everything right again !

Good for Ronald Fasth. Slap the kid once again for me.

This article did not mention that this wasn't the first time the boy had been disrespectful.

He was one of several kids who caused trouble in the park, riding bikes across the mini golf course and on the porch to the cafe and insulting the park staff.

They had been told repeatedly and at repeated occasions to quit and responded with insults. The Fasth thought 'enough is enough' and slapped one of them for insulting him, again, after he'd driven his bike across the minigolf course and been told to quit it, again.

In an article by DN Fasth also mentioned that the behaviour continues towards both him and the other park workers and that one kid asked Fasth to slap him as well, because he wanted to get paid reparation too.

Of course by hitting the kid the guy showed that he probably was an old fart and unsuited to be working directly with the public and in a position of authority if unable to control his temper.

I don't condone the kid's actions either - he was behaving like a brat - however 2 wrongs do not make a right

Just proves to the kid do what I want and if anyone touches me I can take them to court. It was a slap not a punch or a thumping.

Wonder how much money the kid is going to get in compensation from the guy or the government. He would have got the forms as soon as the complaint was made to the cops.

Wasn't it last year a 15 year old got fined for calling at 2 cops " oink "

And why wasn't the kid fined or charged with wilful damage for ridig on the mini golf course. Perhaps the park should charge the kid 3000kr in damage repairs

the kids today have little respect for anyone my self i would have slapped him a second time just to make sure he felt the first one.

Slap him ? should have used a 4x2 across his ignorant petulant little skull!

@Jimmy

Fasth was sentenced to pay means-related fines (dagsböter) of 100 SEK for 10 days, and 500 SEK to the Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority (note that 500 is half the usual sum).

For those of you who knows swedish there are more details here:

http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/orfil-varnamo-pensionar-dagsboter-1.1020785

Appeal Mr Fasth!

Get the 12-year-old boy's parents to comment on their son's delinquent behaviour to the press and TV. I am sure they are waiting outside the house with their cameras for quotes as I write this.

Destroying municipal property that is for the enjoyment of all people in the park is appalling. It shows complete disrespect.

The way to sort this out is for the kid to apologize in court and then undertake community work. Working as a volunteer in the park would sort him out. When his friends ride their bicycles across the miniature golf course, the kid can report them to the police.

Since the article is so vague, it is difficult to ascertain what would prompt the 12 year old to call the schmata a fart. Lots of people are just miserable, lonely and cranky. Particularly older people so it wouldn't surprise me if the old man is just a meshugana. You cannot go around smacking people just because they call you names.

He must be an Arab or something, right? He can't be "ethnic swede", this is outrageous :)

by ruling a fine only to the old pensioner, I think, the court has failed to act fairly. No doubt that both the man and the boy did wrong but the judge saw only the boy's case. what would have been the decison of the court if the man charged the boy of rude and disresectful insult(old fart) without slapping?? i think the court would have ruled it over as insignificant case.

the boy's parents together with the old man should appeal aganist the decision of the court. also important, parents should keep this case and tell to that rude boy when he turns 25, 30, 40..... and once he will get its return back to be called ' old fart' by another rude boy like him!!

@digital

No, Fasth is an ethnic swede.

@digital

Are you referring to the man or the boy who was harassing him?

The boy's name was Rasko Kardovic.

I think Kardovic is Serb but I'm not 100% sure.

He should have slapped his ignorant parents. They're the reason he's such a spoiled little fuque.

@waspy

It was obvious digital referred to the boy, either satirizing the typical racist posts or making one himself. If the later it was no doubt to make another dig at how immigrants supposedly ruin swedish society etc ad nauseam.

His ethnicity is irrelevant though. He acted like a brat regardless and bratiness isn't limited to any specific ethnicity last time I looked.

@Suntiger, you are very right

Anyway, in my opinion, the man's action is 1000% spot on because if he hadn't done what he did, the boy and his friends will still be terrorising the park. Its absolutely shocking that the boy that the guts and audacity to report that the old man slapped him, he is obviously without shame or dignity. That can't be called assault, the boy ASKED for it and the man finally obliged.

This is the problem with Sweden and many other european & north american countries, lack of common sense, political correctness and so called rights. Kids insult their parents & teachers, what can they do? The parents may not have any control over their kids, its beyond belief and comprehension

Finding him guilty is good justice; I would have fined him one cent (USD), however. The boy is the problem here not the poor old guy. The boy needs more slapping around.

Ronald,you have just won a gold medal....

*discipline and respect,requires to emerge once again!*

Sign of the times.

Sweden has been on a downhill spiral in many respects of late.

Its only remaining claim to fame appears to be in having the most spoilt,mollycoddled brats on the planet.

I have to wonder at the parents who would have this man charged. Do they not see that their poor parenting brought about this situation? I would have said, "Thank you," to this man and then privately given my son my own slap for his egregious behaviour.

I say that kid deserves a lesson.

i think the child behaved in a childish manner, of course he is just 12 yrs old, and the old man also behaved as an elder person, but sorry for the court or decision which proved to be funny and childish...

By reading the comments here it makes it very clear why we will never live in peace with each other. Seems like the majority here prefers the solve minor and petty issues by using violence.

Maybe I should start to carry a knife and gun on me, so if someone disrespects me I can either knife them or shoot them. Because they were rude to me and I had to win my respect back, right?

And people wonder why I am a misanthrope.

Happy new year. Let us try to make 2010 even more violent and filled with hate.

I'm proud to live in a country (Sweden) where it is put in the law that people are not allowed to hit children. Unfortunately this is not the case in my own country (The Netherlands) where the majority of people still think it is okay the physically discipline children.

Ofcourse the old fart was wrong! I don't condone what the little brat did but there is never an excuse for a grownup to slap or hit a child. Not only because children's physical integrity cannot ever be compromised , but also because you show children that little issues between people are to be resolved by violence. It's simply a sign of weakness...

Unfortunately the child in this case is not unlike most of his peers in Sweden, in that they have not sense of common courtesy, little or not respect for anyone - elder or not and have power that is disproportional (high) to to the level of responsibility (low) that they have. That said since 50% of children are living in two homes they are expected to take a higher degree of personal responsibility relative to their peers in other western countries. As our children now approach the teenage years we have chosen to bring them up outside of Sweden during the teenage years.

Could he not claim "reasonable force" having been "verbally assaulted"? It works in the UK, sometimes. The whole thing seems like a storm in a teacup. Maybe, on appeal, it will just go away.

Lets remember folk's physical discipline is not always the same as outright violence. He open hand slapped an ignorant 12 year old smart ass... not a baby or a small child. The kid was asking for it and got what he deserved.

Maybe if more parents in this country disciplined their children properly, issues like this wouldn't need to be raised.

Even animals physically disciple their young as a way of teaching and one can't say that they are 'abusers'.

Children, even 12 year olds, don't always have the capacity to be reasoned with. I remember myself as a young child tormenting my parents and nothing worked accept a short smart smack on the ass. It hasn't mentally scared me and it didn't teach me that violence is a solution... it taught me that there are consequences for your actions, even if they are unpleasant.

This fine to the old man has done nothing except reinforce to these children that it is okay to be disrespectful and ignorant.

There is no excuse for slapping the kid.

You can simply fine the kid's parents if he vandalized property and let the parents decide how THEY should punish their kid. The argument that the kid needed to be taught a lesson by this old man doesn't make any sense. We live in a society where violence is not an accepted mean of communication... this is good thing.

You can verbally abuse me as much as you wish but until you throw the first punch I will ignore you. This old FART just proved how immature he is.

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Everybody who says it was ok for the old fart to slap the kid was surely beaten as a child and most likely also sexually abused, and are just projecting their own desire to be abused again. Repressed or open homosexuals.

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Had I been the grumpy ol fart then this scum sucking sh*t bag kid (and his buddy)would be lucky to still be able to eat solids.

This problem is global in the western world where fascist left wing social engineers have been allowed to remove all parental rights at discipline and removed all consequences from the actions of youths. Once a child turns 8 they are no longer naieve to what they can get away with, and cannot be considered "children".

So far as justice would be concerned, the court has shown to be faulty in this case, as its obvious the facts surrounding the case were ignored to provide a feel good verdict in favour of the complainant. The boy and his buddy should have been charged with tresspass and willfull damage to property. The difficulty of course would be in detaining them till the authorities turned up.

Similar situation occurred inQueensland Australia, three juveniles did everyone a favour by getting run over by a train. But not before defying instructions from a railway policeman with similar rude responses. They tried to pin the deaths on everyone except the boys themselves. Fortunately (and unusually) commonsense prevailed.

So it should here, maybe a fighting fund could be established for the pensioner to enable him to afford the appropriate representation in his appeal?

It's sad and tragic how some well deserved discipline applied to a disrespectful punk kid garners more comment, interest, and concern than an 18 year old girl beaten to death in Gothenberg.

Welcome to bizarro world.

We use practical problem solving techniques at work to good avail,find the root cause and solve the problem.It seems to me that the root cause is the childs disrespect for rules and their lies the problem.poor parenting is all around us now due to wet liberals and political correctness.What happened to good old fasioned values and common sense.

You are correct Mr B.

On net balance, what society has done here is to reinforce bad behavior. It's another baby step towards anarchy. Little by little, we're getting there.

does anybody seriously believe that fining this fellow will make Sweden a better place? like adults become better adults, and kids become better kids, we all get along in harmony

I tend to think that a lot of concepts have been redefined through the years, such as marriage, disciplining, parenting, enlightenment, even love (a biological impulse now?). judges play a big part of that transformation.

and unicorns.

you left out unicorns, samwise.

osokin,

"Everybody who says it was ok for the old fart to slap the kid was surely beaten as a child and most likely also sexually abused, and are just projecting their own desire to be abused again. Repressed or open homosexuals."

Thanks for the laugh, Dr. Phil.

Had he not slapped, what would have been the punishment for this minor crime?

Of course it is a bit quick reply from the elderly but I think one can be given that much room to maintain their grace. C'mon its common sense, Slapping is just slapping, not a violent attempt at life. The court decided even more harsh sentence. There are a lot of stupid rules in the name of human rights which need to be reviewed. Kid's parents should not be happy with this decision because it tantamounts to disrepect for the elderly. The same kid would create chaos in the future.

I was referring to the 70 year old. He can't be a real swede since only "invandrare" do stuff like that, all swedes are saints :)

Wow, I expect the country to be a bunch of pu**ies, but the comments here are something else.

If a kid gets in an old man's face like that, the old man was 100% right. What has he learned now? He can disrespect whoever he wants without consequences.

Of course his parents are at fault as well, they need to teach the kid that actions have repercussions, but they didn't.

Reminds me of the story a few months ago of the 15 year old who walks up to people in the street of Stockholm, asks to see their cell phone, then just takes it and walks away. Later, when he was caught he said, nobody even did anything as he did it.

He does that to me and he is going to get punched in the back of the head and maybe kicked a few times in the ribs just for good measure.

Keep giving away the country your ancestors worked hard to provide you with.

A fine for slapping an ignorant child? I'm 16, and I would have leveled that stupid child. So what if he's only 12? In Ireland, if a little idiot did something like that to anyone, they'd get their head eaten off (metaphor). Just goes to show though. If a you jump a queue, 90% of the time people wont even say anything. I hope that the old fella appeals and wins, just to show that if someone acts like a c**k to you, you can give him some physical karma back. It'll do him a world of good.

And no, i'm not repressing some bad memories. It's called common sense, and standing up for yourself.

Children today are being coddled and given no real consequences for bad behavior. This is why this kid had no problem speaking to an elder in such a disrespectful way.

I don't believe in excessive abuse and/or causing any real or lasting damage, but a short, sharp slap to the face is neither IMO. Hopefully now this kid will think twice before shooting his mouth off.

All that being said, I also believe that it is really the duty of the PARENTS to discipline their own children. I know I'd be pretty pissed if some stranger took it upon himself to discipline my child before giving me the chance to do it myself.

Either way, there is really no clear right and wrong side here.

Just reading the new comments makes me want to give up on 2010 being a better year and decade for this planet.

Those I have spoken to who haven been slapped as a kid finds it okay to "discipline" kids with slapping. Those who have never been slapped as a kid, but being disciplined with reason are against slapping a kid as discipline.

I know, it is a bit post hoc ergo propter hoc; but I hope most of you get where I am coming from.

In the end the slap or not to slap is something we are taught as kids. If you grow up with being slapped when doing something wrong, according to a grown-up, you will later believe that behaviour is ok.

The problem here is that the old way of discipline did not only include a slap or a good beating, you were also explicitly told why you got a beating.

So now we think we should just slap and be done with it, thinking you do not have t explain why.

Just look around you in our society. Nice violent, yes?

Why do you think that is?

Where do we learn that it is OK to hit or even kill someone if you disagree with them or someone is mean to you verbally? Like so many of you have pointed out, it is from the parents. Not just lack of education, but also too much wrong education.

Monkey see, monkey do.

Also, look at it from this view point. If you did something wrong at work, and your boss "disciplined" you by giving you a good old beating, I am 100% sure all of you would run crying to the union and drag his arse to court; instead of learning from him or her "disciplining" you. If any of you who find slapping an OK way of disciplining a child say you would not drag this boss to court, you are a damn liar and hypocrite.

The elderly gentleman should have thought it out better and staged a nasty accident , like shoving a rake (or similar stick) into the front wheel of the bike so the youngster goes flying head over turkey onto his smart ar$e face then he could say oh very sorry let me help you up and accidentally poke him in the eye or something like that or just walk away and leave the cheeky lad to contemplate his errors. after all how is the kid gonna explain what he was doing at the time.

I beleive consequential discipline/punishment is perfectly OK in Sweden!

perhaps the old fart could have just said he just spun round and accidentally struck him with his walking stick!

the real crime here is owning up (pride) to the slap !

When we criticize the old man for hitting the kid, we need to remember that the boy and his gang of friends had been acting this way for years. This was an ongoing reign of terror for the man and the visitors to the park. Put yourself in his position and realize that as the behavior of the kids continued, the old caretaker felt more and more powerless: the kids were getting bigger and bolder as he was getting older and weaker.

So, what was he to do? Call the cops? They would have laughed and never shown up to help, even though it is their job to protect civic facilities. They are too busy giving parking tickets and watching out for football hooligans - which, by the way, is what these kids will probably grow up to become because nobody responded to their disrespectful aggression when they were younger.

Also recall that the caretaker did ask the boys to stop being so disrespectful numerous times and the kids ignored him. Further discussion was not going to solve the problem.

Ideally, the parents should have been contacted and a complaint registered, but how was the caretaker to find out contact information for them?

I think he just saw the hopelessness of his situation and reacted the way any rational human being would have - he resorted to violence in an attempt to rectify a problem that had exhausted all other options. I think we can agree that violence should be avoided as it usually begets more violence, but in order to avoid a society deteriorating into violence, we need to have functions in place to respond to the threat of aggression. These functions failed in this situation and violence was the predictable conclusion.

I think if that brat got a deserved clip every now and again he may not have been such a nuisance.

One of my old teachers was against corporal punishment and any form of physical discipline. Her son lost the plot and held her and her husband hostage with a shotgun.....sometimes a red arse is the best teacher

the correct judgement would have asked the boy (eventually his family because he is a minor) to pay a fine for "slander" against the old man and the old man himself pay a fine for slapping him. then, nobody should have anything to pay to anybody!

good he should be fined. i remembered i was laughing sharing joke with my friend in karlskrona and old guy come and to my surprize say that stop laughing otherwise i will kick you.

Good decision court should tell old buddies that kids are kids and act like responsible person , not become kiddish with kids

The boy instigated rage in the man by offending him. If the boy had not verbally offended the man, he would not have got slapped.

Freedom of speech doesn't mean you have a right to verbally abuse others. What it means: "you have a right to say anything you want but don't cry out you were abused when someone slaps you for being offensive."

The seventy-year-old man was only able to slap the yob because he, the yob, was in his personal space. Which one of you would allow someone get into your personal space and not respond accordingly? I guess it depends on your definition of your personal space.

The boy was the cause and effect of the slap.

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/a-smacked-child-is-a-successful-child/story-e6frfku0-1225815786134?from=public_rss

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/do-smacked-kids-grow-up-happier/story-e6frev00-1225815802590

New research from USA:

Marjorie Gunnoe, professor of psychology at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said: ''The claims made for not spanking children fail to hold up. They are not consistent with the data.

RESULT after research of 2600 people:

YOUNG children smacked by their parents may grow up to be happier and more successful than those who have never been hit, a study has found.

According to the research, children smacked up to the age of six were likely as teenagers to perform better at school and were more likely to carry out volunteer work and to want to go to university than their peers who had never been physically disciplined.

Only those children who continued to be smacked into adolescence showed clear behavioral problems.

Some spanking is not always wrong, just my opinion, and it seems many people worldwide share my opinion, even psychologists, see the research above.

It was the boy and not the old man who was instigating troubles in this park frequently and finally even insulting this old man personally.

It is the risk of the boy, that the reaction of the old man turned out to be rather different from what he expected. His parents are also to blame for his behavior, but also Swedish laws - while children must be protected against mistreatment, they should not be protected against punishment in case of bad behavior like it is the case in Sweden.

Of course the guy should have found a way to deal with it other than slapping if he could have.

I just find it strange some of you characterize this as violence, as if he beat the boy. A few seconds pass and the sting of the slap is gone. Its not a way to inflict pain its a way to get attention. Of course you can't just walk up to random people and slap them, though, which is why its included in the assault law.

I'd hope the boy would grow up to know the difference between slapping someone and beating them also.

Its no slapping policy people, how hard it is to understand that for some of you? STOP. No slapping kids, no slapping buts, no slapping TVs, ... - its that simple.

I am just suprised that there is so much publicity for this subject??? What is this?

Anyone over 30 is an old fart to a 12 year old kid. When I was a young fart; I use to feel the same way.

The old man is so right . in fact that kid is so manner less ,for if it wasn't for his insults he wouldn't have being rewarded with the gift of a slap.he deserves another one.he could even insult his own parents .he should pay a fine as well and apologize to the old man in court.damn that.

I don't think he should have slapped him. I think he should have punched him in the face, instead.

The man deserves a medal for slapping the punk.

He made my day.

That spoilt little brat should be fined for reckless endangerment for riding his bike on the minigolf course and have his bike confiscated and made to do community service in a nursing home where he specifically has to toilet assist ex boxers.

Calling aaaaan elderly person names calls for a lsap in the face. I see no other correct attitude. The boy or can't learn any other way to respect the elderly! There should be an office inn town where this boy can be reported and further punished! What would be criminal, is to let this go! If the teenager sees that he or she can get away with insulting an adult, they will repeat it over again and we shall have a lousy society!