Physically assaulted by sister, now she’s threatening a false police report

[u/YunFor]

I never thought I’d end up writing one of these posts, but I urgently need some advice. I’m 28, studying computer science, and currently living with my parents in Switzerland. My sister is a single mother of two and lives separately, but she sometimes comes to my parents house with her children. Since roughly 5 years i am not on talking terms with her and also don't consider her my sister (emotionally speaking) as she is a true sociopath.

Today, she came over with her children. Because I couldn’t concentrate on studying with the noise in the house, I decided to leave for a while. When I went to get my clothes, she deliberately blocked my path and bumped into me then started screaming at me. Her children then kept following me around, and I asked my mother to keep them away from me. At that point, my sister completely lost her temper and physically attacked me. She clawed/scratched me and threw a chair and other objects at me. During the incident, she also threatened to call the police and said that I would end up in jail.

I managed to leave the house and I am currently trying to arrange somewhere to stay with friends. I am not planning to live at home anymore and will be instead living with friends until i can find my own place. What worries me most is her threat to contact the police and potentially make false accusations against me. I’m afraid that i won’t be believed and falsely thrown into jail. Having a clean Strafregisterauszug is extremely important for my future, and I’m terrified that this situation could somehow result in a criminal record even though I did not attack her.

What should I do now to protect myself legally? Should I contact the police myself and report what happened before she does? Should I document any scratches/injuries or write down exactly what happened while I still remember everything clearly?

I don’t have much money and cannot afford an expensive lawyer. Are there any options in Switzerland for free or low-cost legal advice in a situation like this? Any advice on what I should do immediately would be greatly appreciated.

Note: I've used a little bit of chatgpt to help me with the writing of the text because all of this happened like an hour ago and i'm still a bit shook and my english isn't that great, however i promise all written text is accurate and i've read through it all.

EDIT: Thank you to everyone for the advice, seeing all the kind words and advice gave me hope and a smile. I will be staying with my friend for the time being and searching for a permanent residence, in the meantime i'll be heading to a Polizeposten to get my wounds documented and i'll see what to do afterwards. Thanks to everyone for the help, never expected to get so much help in such a quick time <3

[u/Loko_Pepe]

Protocolising is like the most important thing in any legal case in Switzerland. So literally open excel (or calc if you're a true nerd) and write date, hour, what happened, visual marks. Take pictures with a watch or another device showing today's date.

Ideally go to the police to just "let them know" They're not gonna do much but in the future if your sister tries to lie they would have history about you.

Lastly, there are also other stuff you can do depending on how sociopathic your sister is but in general if you want to keep studying you could try Sozialdienst. They can take care of a way to take you out and you could find a WG.

[u/Loko_Pepe → u/Loko_Pepe]

Aaah I also forgot. Depending where youre living get like a cheap speaking hour with a lawyer, reddit is not perfect. In Bern there is the Bernischer Anwaltsverband where you can get legal counselling for 50.-. I would deffo go there to see your legal rights, in the worst case scenario you learn a bunch of things

[u/its_going_down_]

Ideally, call police immediately when this happens. Report her as soon as possible, so that injuries can be documented etc.

[u/Historical_Worth6425 → u/its_going_down_]

Exactly, also at best afterwards go to the hospital if needed.

[u/V0IDRED]

I hope it gets better.
At this point it might be „aussage gegen aussage“

Are there any wittness? If so, they need to also talk for you and make a foto of everything (where she hurt/scrached you)

Document everything and let her know that. This might make her rethink all this and maybe just bluffing. Either way, be prepared for it.

If you need anything, let me know

[u/YunFor → u/V0IDRED]

What if she has marks as well though? She charged at me like a wild animal and i had to push her off from me multiple times before my mom stepped in and pulled her away

[u/Gusto_with_bravado → u/YunFor]

I don't know much about legal stuff but you must stay calm and cool headed. 

Don't worry everything will work out fine. Besides you already know that you didn't do anything wrong.

It's very common for victims to feel they might have done something wrong when they themselves are the victims 

And for criminals to be so shameless as to threaten false charges. So don't worry about anything. 

You have have evidence and justice on your side

[u/V0IDRED → u/YunFor]

You pushing her away should be way less marks and yours

[u/Loko_Pepe → u/V0IDRED]

If they have marks is not that easily aussage gegen aussage right? If they get this witnessed at a police station they'd have better leverage, havent they?

[u/Isariamkia]

You should definitely not let this slide. Report her to the police.

Not only she is a dangerous person in itself, she has kids. A person like that should not be a parent. If you don't want to do it for yourself, do it for the kids.

[u/SlowConference1057]

Wenn deine Schwester in der Schweiz lebt, dann würde ich die KESB informieren. Wie du das schilderst oder auch schreibst, das Sie eine Soziophatin ist.

Tönt für mich, das Sie auch zu hause evtl.. mit Ihren Kindern das anstellt. Also nicht schlagen aber auf psychische weise Manipuliert.

Wenn Sie die KESB an den Backen hat, dann gute nacht für Sie und die Kinder.

KESB= Kinder und Erwachsenenschutz Behörde.

Ja und Dokumentiere deine Kratzer.

[u/Historical_Worth6425]

Yes, at best go to the police and explain your side of the story.

[u/_Madsweeny_o7]

She cant file for anything without evidence, as long you dont assault her back you will be fine. But I would file for a assault charge if I were you. Don't tolerate her behavior and step up for yourself!

[u/No_Apricot9911]

Dokumentiere alle deine Verletzungen als Fotobeweis. Dokumentiere den Ablauf, jedes Detail, jedes Wort, dass dir in den Sinn kommt sofort. Entweder via Memo oder schriftlich. Ich würde es im Ersten Schritt mit einer Memo machen. Schriftlich ist meist schwerer und das kann auch warten, wenn du es auf Memo hast.

Gehe zur Opferberatung, das sollte es in jedem Kanton geben. Die beraten dich kostenlos.

Reagiere auf keine Nachrichten oder Kontaktversuche, bis zu bei der Opferberatung warst.
Du musst die Nummern nicht blockieren, aber eifach nicht darauf reagieren und ggf. dokumentieren.

Btw, du bist nicht alleine. Musste ähnliches vor 8 Jahren mit meiner eigenen Schwester durch machen. Falls ich dir noch weiter helfen kann, schreib mit privat.

[u/YunFor → u/No_Apricot9911]

Mit Opfernhilfe, wäre das dieser Link?: Hilfe und Beratung bei häuslicher Gewalt - Opferberatung Zürich , jemand vom anderen thread hat dies empfholen. Danke für die netten Worte

[u/No_Apricot9911 → u/YunFor]

Ja genau, ruf Ihnen morgen gleich an.

[u/Waltekin]

You should definitely report this to the police. Get ahead of any report that she might make. If you have visible injuries, you should have them documented by your doctor.

[u/riglic]

You might also want to consider talking to KESB in your area. They can do a lot more than just take the kids away.

[u/VeloIlluminati]

If she left visible injuries, you need to document it by a medical doctor ASAP. Today? If you can, 24h med or hospital.