Suspended sentence for man who assaulted Arthur Leclerc in brother Charles’ car
Arthur Leclerc © Scuderia Ferrari
The incident took place in 2022 when Monegasque racing driver Arthur Leclerc went out for dinner in Bordighera, Italy, with a group of friends.
It was a pleasant spring evening in June 2022. Arthur Leclerc and his friends decided to go to Bordighera, just on the Italian border, for dinner by the sea.
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As they left the restaurant and headed for their car, Arthur was stopped by a young man who shouted his name several times in the middle of the street. The Monegasque driver asked him to calm down, but the situation quickly escalated.
The Monegasque group finally got into their car, but as they turned to go home, the young man reappeared at the side of the road with three or four associates. Arthur, who was driving the vehicle, was forced to slow down to get past them.
Things quickly became heated between the two men and suddenly the young Italian, from Ventimiglia, punched the driver hard in the face, through the open car window. The situation escalated, and the group started attacking the car, with such violence that they managed to shatter the windscreen with their bare hands.
A few long minutes later, a car managed to act as a “battering ram,” in the words of the President of the Court, to break things up.
The individual identified two years later in Monaco
Despite numerous witness statements, the assailant wasn’t identified until this year. He was arrested in April in the Principality for being drunk on the public highway, and recognised by the Police Department.
In police custody, the accused admitted to the altercation with Arthur and explained that he was heavily intoxicated at the time and that he had been “scared” when the Monegasque’s car “touched his foot”. And so he struck the first blow, in his own words.
Five days’ total work incapacity
After the assault, Arthur Leclerc was signed off work for five days. Defence lawyer Gamerdinger stressed the “severe violence” of the blows, particularly to the driver’s eye, which could have had “serious and irreversible repercussions for his health and career.”
The incident didn’t only concern Arthur, but also his older brother, Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc, whose car it was. Together, they claimed damages of around €20,000 to compensate for Arthur’s injuries and shock, repairs to the vehicle and legal costs.
After deliberation, the Monaco Criminal Court handed the assailant a suspended sentence of six months’ imprisonment and a two-year ban from the country, a decision that went beyond the prosecutor’s request for a two-month sentence.