Pianist faces jail for playing too loud, too often

Spanish prosecutors are seeking a 20-month prison sentence for a professional pianist whose former neighbour is suing over alleged noise pollution.

Musician Laia Martin is on trial in Girona after her family’s downstairs neighbour, Sonia Bosom, accused her of causing psychological harm.

After a three-day criminal trial in the city of Girona, the public prosecutor asked the judges on Friday to jail 27-year-old Laia Martin for 16 months for violating noise ordinances. The prosecutor also asked for an additional four months for causing psychological damage, and for Martin to be banned from professional piano playing for six months. Martin’s neighbour Sonia Bosom claimed loss of sleep and panic attacks caused by Martin’s eight hours of practice a day from 2003 to 2007, when she was studying at a music college.

A verdict is expected within two weeks.

The alleged victim said she now has such a horror of pianos, she cannot stand even seeing them in films, reports say. Ms Bosom’s lawyer said she had endured “four years of suffering,” the Associated Press news agency reports. In their defence, the Martin family said they had tried to soundproof the room, and that the practice had not been as constant as claimed. The public prosecutor had initially sought a jail term of over seven years for Ms Martin.