(84)  Street performances and little boy trouble at the Edinburgh Festival

On 16 August 2000 Enrique Aparicio, a 33-year-old Spaniard, was posing as a statue of a pirate carrying a flintlock pistol and an ornamental sword on Princes Street, Edinburgh, during the city’s international Festival.  Jamie Robertson (14), a no doubt appreciative member of the audience, decided to prod Aparicio to see whether he was real.  Aparicio, apparently not prepared to suffer for his art, eventually drove the boy away by striking him on the right ear with the sword.  Jamie needed eight stitches as a result and Aparicio was convicted of assault two days later in Edinburgh Sheriff Court.  He was fined £100, ordered to pay a further £100 in compensation, and had his sword confiscated. <