A man was sentenced to two years in prison on Monday for firing a shotgun into the air as part of his new year’s celebrations.
He appeared in front of a three-judge panel in northern Nicosia, with judge Tutku Candas telling the court that he had travelled to a relative’s house at around 11pm on December 31 last year and put a shotgun in the back of his car before leaving his house.
She said that after eating and drinking at his relative’s house, he took the shotgun from the back of his vehicle and opened fire, with the bullets damaging a lamppost and a bus stop.
She said the man had “caused danger by carrying out this action in a residential area”, and also noted that he did not have the correct permit to be carrying and using a shotgun.
With this in mind, she pointed out that firearm-related crimes are “becoming increasingly common” in the north.
The man’s lawyer had said celebratory gunfire is “common” during the new year period, but Candas was quick to describe the act as both “unacceptable” and “a primitive form of celebration”.
She did, however, note that the man had paid 4,500TL (€118) to repair the damage he had caused to the lamppost and the bus stop, and that the man “regretted his actions and accepted he had done wrong”.
For this reason, and also given that the man is engaged and soon to be married, he was sentenced to two years in prison.
