Refuels in Monaco without paying: a month’s suspended sentence
The hearing took place on Tuesday 26 March - © Pixabay
The defendant’s explanation was surprising to say the least.
Despite being absent from the Criminal Court of Monaco on the day of the trial, the accused, an Armenian citizen in his thirties, managed to make the magistrates smile several times. Reading out the events that occurred in December 2023, the court’s President Florestan Bellinzona said: “The gentleman turned up at the petrol station on Charles III Boulevard by the roundabout near the border with Cap-d’Ail. He refuelled, entered the shop where payment normally takes place, and immediately left again.”
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140 euros outstanding
Quickly apprehended by Police Department officers, the person put forward a rather disconcerting explanation. He stated that he suffers from a urinary tract infection and that he needed to relieve himself immediately. According to the police report, he also stated that he intended to pay the outstanding amount, some 140 euros, give or take.
The officers therefore accompanied the tourist back to the petrol station. At first, he tried to pay with a card that was rejected, then protested about the amount, “much too expensive” for his taste. And finally, with a certain aplomb, he suggested giving the fuel back! Given the man’s clean record in France or Monaco, the court agreed to prosecutor Julien Pronier’s request, and pronounced a suspended prison sentence of one month.