Woman fined for blowing whistle into phone

A 61-year-old German woman has been fined €800 for blowing a whistle down the telephone at a call-centre worker and damaging her hearing - after she got fed up with constant cold-calls to her house.

The unnamed woman from Pirmasens in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate told a judge in a local court that she was so annoyed by the unending stream of calls from marketing companies last August that she snapped and blew a whistle into the receiver.

She was hoping just to deter the company from calling her again, but ended up giving herself a criminal record - and the female call-centre employee long-term hearing problems and tinnitus due to the effort she put into the high-pitched blast.

Finding her guilty of bodily harm, the judge fined the 61-year-old €800.

She initially appealed the fine but decided to pay it shortly before a hearing scheduled for Tuesday.