On trial for the ninja weapon, but it was only a broken broomstick: acquitted in Sassari

Nunchaku or no nunchaku, that is the question.

The oriental weapon, made up of two sticks joined by a chain, was at the center of the charge against a 43-year-old from Porto Torres found by the police in 2021 in possession of a similar instrument inside his car. He is therefore charged with carrying a weapon capable of offending and a trial concluded today in court in Sassari with acquittal and a shortened trial because the fact does not constitute a crime.

But the heart of the story lay precisely in the identification of the crime, also exhibited in the courtroom before the judge. For the accused, defended by the lawyers Bruno Conti and Paolo Spano, it was a simple waste, a broom handle cut in two, ready to be thrown into an ecological centre, together with other rubbish, however rejected by the workers because it was collected in undifferentiated way.

Invited to confer correctly, the 43-year-old returned home and, during the evening, was stopped by the military who, discovering the nunchaku-like device, reported him. A definition he rejected, instead calling it a toy and not a ninja weapon as confirmed by the father heard today at the hearing. And in the end came the acquittal pronounced by judge Giancosimo Mura.