Mustachioed Yekaterinburg Skier Beats Teen, Weeps in Court
Yakov says he deeply regrets his actions
Black mustaches made Yakov Shusharin, an ordinary marketer, famous throughout Yekaterinburg. They were on his face when he beat a 13-year-old schoolboy on the slope of Uktus, and became a distinctive feature when the attacker was declared wanted.
Yakov shaved his mustache off immediately but came to the police himself
Yakov came to the police himself. Law enforcement officers did not immediately realize that the man before them was the one from the bulletin, because he had shaved off those very thick mustaches right after the incident on the mountain. He says he wasn«t trying to alter his appearance, just tidying up.
Kristina is very worried about her son. Doctors say the injury«s consequences may still appear later
Yakov explained that he attacked the child in defense of his wife and little daughter. The teenager accidentally knocked down his wife while riding down the hill on a snow scooter. At that moment, the man flew into a rage: without even giving the boy a chance to apologize, he assaulted him with fists and struck him several times in the head.
The man asked not to deprive his daughter of her father and to leave him at liberty
«He wasn»t just hitting him, he was brutally assaulting him«
Yakov«s daughter misses her dad. On the day of the incident, he was teaching her to ski
13-year-old Vlastimir was walking at Uktus with a friend; they were riding a snow scooter. While descending the hill again, the boy saw people standing on the slope. The child says he tried to brake but didn«t have time, so he crashed into a woman.
Yakov«s mother and wife believe he snapped
«I stretched my arms forward to cushion the blow for the woman,» the boy told the police. «I didn»t have time to apologize, they started beating me. My head was spinning, my vision blurred.«
Yakov apologized to the teenager«s mother
Literally a minute later, the boy«s friend ran up to the slope. He wanted to distract the aggressor so he would stop beating him. When the man chased the second teenager, Vlastimir managed to get up and go home.
The man instantly flew into a rage and began delivering harsh blows
When he told his parents what happened, they immediately took him to the hospital. The boy was diagnosed with a broken nose, a concussion, and a closed head injury.
Yakov«s relatives explained why he attacked the boy
«If I had been there, I don»t know what I would have done. He [Yakov] wasn«t just beating him, he was pummeling him. The child was put on sick leave for a month, he»s not going to school, and an old neurological condition has flared up. It«s still unclear what the consequences of the head injury will be; they might appear later,» explained the teenager«s mother, Kristina, to E1.RU.
Vlastimir«s mother Kristina is a world champion in belly dancing; she has her own Telegram channel where she talks about her life and travels. She also posted there the video from the ski complex cameras showing her son being brutally beaten by the mustachioed man. A few days later, it spread across all media and city public pages.
Kristina has four children. Vlastimir is the oldest child in the family. He had been to Uktus often; his mother considered the ski complex territory a safe place for walks, especially since her son knew it well. The boy regularly snowboards there with an instructor.
«Now the child is very distressed after what happened, and the younger children are too,» Kristina shared.
«My wife might have been pregnant»
Yakov turned himself in to the police four days after beating the boy. He says he wasn«t trying to hide from the investigation or disguise himself, but during that time he managed to change his hairstyle and shave off his mustache.
He came to confess when he saw himself on the video that was already everywhere. That day on the slope, he and his wife were teaching their four-year-old daughter to ski. The man became furious when the snow scooter crashed into them.
«In a fit of rage, I hit the person who knocked down my wife several times. With my fist to the head area and the torso area. My wife might have been pregnant. That is, we are trying to conceive a second child, and for me this was a stressful situation,» explained Yakov.
Investigators opened a criminal case under the article «Hooliganism.» In court, where his pretrial restrictions were being determined, the former mustachioed man apologized to the boy«s mother and even broke down in tears.
He wiped away tears while explaining why he attacked and beat the boy.
«My vision went dark, I didn»t see a child before me, I saw a man who knocked down my wife. I was very scared, I don«t understand what came over me at that moment. I am ready to see a psychiatrist to find out if I am a danger to society, if necessary. Please forgive me,» Yakov said in court.
The man was supported by his wife Anastasia, who had stopped her enraged husband on the slope. She brought their four-year-old daughter to court with her. The girl was not allowed into the hall, although she very much wanted to see her father. In the corridor, the little girl watched cartoons with her grandfather while her mother explained why dad attacked someone else«s child.
«We»ve been trying to conceive a child for several months, we«re not succeeding, we»re under stress. Here I fall, I could have been pregnant, my husband is stressed about that. So it«s not like he thought: now I»ll beat him up, he just snapped. It was a reaction to a specific situation,« says Yakov»s wife.
Yakov«s 38-year-old mother also came to the hearing. She whispered to her son in front of the camera: »You«re not to blame!» and defended him to journalists. Friendly, active, an avid hiker (he grew those thick mustaches during another hike), he never got into serious conflicts, he has no criminal record and no bad habits.
The woman is convinced that the teenager, whom her adult son punched in the head, is also to blame. In the courthouse corridor, she even tried to explain this to the child«s mother, who was shocked by such accusations and preferred to step aside to avoid an argument.
«Your son committed a hooligan act,» the accused«s mother told the mother of the injured teenager. »And my son did it unintentionally.«
«Thank you, I understand that you also beat him,» Kristina cut her off and went to another part of the corridor.
Yakov«s mother continued her thought in front of journalists» cameras.
«This hill is intended for teaching children, not for riding snow scooters. The boy committed hooligan acts, he didn»t even shout, didn«t ask to move aside,» says the accused«s mother, Lyudmila Yuryevna. »He and his friend were giggling and looking toward my children. And the video shows that the hill is big, but they just had to go right at my kids.«
«You acted like a beast!»
Yakov, unlike his relatives, has no doubt about his guilt. He offered to compensate the boy«s family for damages (the child»s treatment requires financial costs), but the schoolboy«s mother categorically refused apologies and money.
«You acted like a beast. I believe your behavior is dangerous, like that of a beast,» the child«s mother said and asked for the strictest possible pretrial restrictions for the man.
The skier«s lawyer insisted on house arrest, but investigators believed that at large he could pressure witnesses or flee, since after beating the teenager he left the scene. The court agreed with this position and sent Yakov into custody for a month and a half.
«Yasha, hang in there! We will appeal!» said the accused«s mother as she left the courtroom.
Under the «Hooliganism» article, the man faces up to five years in prison.
We followed the court hearing live. All news on this topic can be found in a special section.
