The magistrates’ court in Bruges on Monday sentenced a 23-year-old man from Charleroi to 18 months in prison for two supermarket robberies.
With the help of accomplices, the man loaded his trolley with alcoholic beverages, electronic equipment and clothing, then left without paying through the self-scanning queues.
On 21 October last, the man and two accomplices, one of them a 58-year-old man from Chimay, made off with €1,775 worth of goods in this way. The 23-year-old and his 58-year-old accomplice were quickly identified, but the third man was not. The young man also resisted when held by the police.
The investigation linked this robbery to another, perpetrated a week earlier, in Tournai. Using the same procedure, the 23-year-old had stolen items worth €758.
During her closing arguments, the prosecutor emphasised that this was not the man’s first offence and that, at the time of the events, he was on parole as he was serving a sentence in Mons. The prosecution therefore requested 18 months’ imprisonment for the younger man and 12 months for his older accomplice.
The younger man’s defence argued that the nine months’ pre-trial detention he had already served was sufficient. As for the older man, he had merely acted as a chauffeur for his accomplice, his lawyer had argued, asking that his client be given a suspended sentence.
In the end, the court followed the prosecution’s recommendations.
