Pieter Weening likely to be sentenced to eighty hours of community service after a fight with in-laws in 2021

Pieter Weening was sentenced last year to eighty hours of community service for assaulting and threatening his former brother-in-law. This week there was another hearing in court and what happened during the evening was explained in detail in local newspaper Leeuwarder Courant.

It was Christmas Day 2021. The Dutch former cyclist was visited by his in-laws, but during dinner a heated discussion arose about raising the child of his then partner, one from a previous relationship. Ultimately, the brother-in-law could hold on no longer and broke both of Weening's jaws with a punch. The rider then allegedly followed his brother-in-law and threatened to do something to him. "Give me your gun and I will shoot them dead," a furious Weening responded when the police arrived at the house.

The currently 42-year-old Weening was then urged to calm down and taken to hospital by his sister. When he returned home an hour and a half later, he saw that his in-laws were still at his home. The once again furious Weening ran upstairs 'armed' with a bottle, where he found his then girlfriend and son.

"I wanted to comfort my crying son and defended myself against further injury," is his explanation. "I felt extremely threatened in my own home." Weening also says that the members of his in-laws have coordinated their statements. "That feels very unfair. I'm telling the truth. This is the story," he indicates.

According to the the Public Prosecution Service in Belgium, "Weening does not adopt a constructive attitude that radiates respect". The public prosecutor followed the police judge's demand and demanded eighty hours of community service, forty of which were conditional. The verdict will be announced on November 1.