Banal stolen scooter reveals sad story of serial thief and drug addict
The scooter thief was sentenced to 15 days' imprisonment and will serve his French sentence after his release © Monaco Tribune
He initially came to the Principality to steal alcohol from the new Carrefour shop on the port.
Challenging life experiences can lead to criminality. The defendant on trial today knows all about that. The Nice resident was charged and tried for the theft of an electric scooter worth €600.
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He initially came to the Principality to steal alcohol in the new Carrefour shop on the port. According to friends of the accused, it appeared to be very easy to steal alcohol there, as the prosecutor explained during the hearing. However, because of the many security cameras, the defendant found it harder than expected and scrapped his original plan.
He committed his theft a few metres from there. Just behind the Carrefour, in rue Louis Notari. Spotting an unchained electric scooter of the same model as his own, he decided to steal it so he could replace the front wheel with the one he had stolen.
“I really do have one of my own. I wanted to change the wheel. It wasn’t so I could sell it on,” he explained to the judges at the hearing.
The police found him sleeping in Monaco station with the help of surveillance cameras. Very drunk at the time, he registered a blood alcohol level of 0.9 g/l.
This type of theft seems to be increasingly prevalent, according to the public prosecutor, who called for a sentence that would set an example and show the Principality’s firmness. He said that the number of cases of this type is on the rise, and that more and more thieves from Nice are making forays into Monaco to steal electric scooters with ease, then head back to France on the train.
Problematic (re)integration in society
The defendant’s story is far from a happy one, and the public prosecutor described it as one of “human wretchedness.”
The defendant confessed “I haven’t worked for 15 years.” He was a social services case as a child and brought up in care. In his fifties but appearing in his thirties, the defendant struggles to get by on welfare benefits, in particular a Disabled Adult’s allowance and housing aid.
After failing vocational training in pastry-making when he was younger, the man lived from temporary work until his only income was the RSA (subsistence allowance) because drug problems meant he couldn’t work. He developed a severe heroin and cocaine addiction, which is now controlled by methadone.
A string of convictions
While his Monegasque criminal record is clean, his French record is anything but. Today’s defendant has already been in prison for several ” robberies and altercations, but never for drug trafficking,” he stressed, despite a long history of drug addiction.
Recently convicted in France of theft and assault and battery, he has a 4-month house arrest sentence to serve, with an electronic tag. He therefore asked for a quick decision so that he could serve his Monegasque sentence, spend a few days in rehab for his alcohol-related problems and then stay “locked in at home” with the electronic tag to continue his withdrawal.
The 50-year-old was issued with a 5-year ban from the Principality and a 15-day custodial sentence, which he began serving as soon as the hearing was over, enabling him to report to the French court in October and begin his withdrawal plans as mentioned.