Matti Nykänen given 16-month sentence for aggravated assault

Matti Nykänen

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The former ski-jumping Olympic Champion Matti Nykänen was sentenced to a prison term of one year and four months by the Pirkanmaa District Court on Tuesday morning, after he was convicted of aggravated assault. The sentence was not suspended.
      Nykänen was also ordered to pay his then spouse more than EUR 6,600 in damages and a further EUR 3,600 in court costs.
     
The offence in question took place in Ylöjärvi in December 2009, when Nykänen caused bodily harm to his female partner with a bread knife.
      The court did not believe Nykänen's assertion that the knife had been in the woman's hand and that he had merely sought to take it away from her.
     
The former sports star, who has had an unseemly and very public fall from grace since he ended his international career, has had persistent problems with alcohol and has been given prison sentences for assault on three previous occasions since 2004.
      Nykänen is likely to appeal the latest decision to the Court of Appeal.
     
Matti Nykänen, now 47, is widely regarded as the greatest-ever ski-jumper.
      He won four gold medals and one silver medal at the 1984 and 1988 Winter Olympics, and was also a multi-medallist at the Nordic Skiing World Championships between 1982 and 1989.
      Unfortunately, his later life has been clouded by incidents that have made him a regular face on the front pages of the tabloids.
     
     


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Former ski-jumping star Matti Nykänen facing charges of aggravated assault (31.12.2009)
  Former ski jumper Matti Nykänen gets four-month sentence for beating wife (17.3.2006)

Links:
  Matti Nykänen (Wikipedia)

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