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“All Together Ooky”: Man Convicted of Criminal Nuisance for Repeatedly Whistling Theme Song of The Addams Family

215px-addams_gomez5Leopold Wrobel, 51,of Wingerworth, England is whistling a different tone this week after a court found him guilty in a unique form of criminal nuisance. Wrobel is to spend 20 weeks in jail for continually whistling the theme music to The Addams Family series whenever his elderly neighbors, Michael and Kathleen Sharpe, passed by. The Sharpes testified that Wrobel made them prisoners in their own home for four years by watching and whistling.

Wrobel was convicted of anti-social behavior, but the court found that he continued his harassment.
Mr. Sharpe testified that the harassment actually made his 66-year-old wife’s hair fall out from the stress and associated illnesses.

Wrobel insisted that he was whistling to his dog and that “I couldn’t care less what they do, it’s of no interest to me at all.”

Wrobel strikes me as a perfect jerk, though it remains a bit unclear to me how whistling can be a crime as opposed to rude behavior. In the United States, such cases might be charged as stalking, but Wrobel lives next door. I expect the most likely course would be securing injunctive relief or a restraining order on the basis of a perceived threat and then prosecuting for violation of that order. But what if Wrobel simply changed his tune literally and simply whistled whenever they were around. Could a court honestly say that he is a criminal as opposed to a chronic whistler?

Of course, none of this makes Wrobel any less of a loser, but, as Gomez told Fester, he should not give up hope: omez: “You’ll meet someone. Someone very special. Someone who won’t press charges.”

The Addams Family

They’re creepy and they’re kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They’re all together ooky,
The Addams Family.

Their house is a museum
Where people come to see ’em
They really are a scream
The Addams Family.

(Neat)
(Sweet)
(Petite)

So get a witches shawl on
A broomstick you can crawl on
We’re gonna pay a call on
The Addams Family.

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