An umpteenth theft of bicycles was mentioned at the flagrance hearing of the Monaco court. And not least since the thefts were revealed at 8,149 euros and 5,500 euros! And for the two victims the same question: what happened to the bicycles?

No revelation of the suspected villain leads on a lead or brings a clue. Do these “disappearances” foreshadow the existence, in the Principality or in the neighboring department, of a black cycle market? The affair did not overflow on this subject. But it allowed the defendant to be punished with three months in prison.

Arrived in the handcuffed box, a 30-year-old homeless man with an atypical character, with a high eye on the collegiate training of the criminal court and repeatedly interrupts the reading of the minutes by President Florestan Bellinzona, despite reminders to silence .

“On the video, it’s not me”

“Sunday, November 6, 2022reminds the magistrate, two residents notice the disappearance of their respective two-wheelers, In rue Plati, you steal a first cycle. The video surveillance films several sequences, including one in the elevator where we can clearly see your face. In the L’Engelin car park on avenue Hector-Otto, you are on a scooter. You mark a break and you go back on the second bike. When you return to the Principality on Friday November 11, the police arrest you because you correspond to the description…”

The respondent disputes:The scooter is mine. I paid 450 Swiss francs for it. On the video it’s not me: the cameras are not clear…”

The President interrupts him:If not you, is it someone who looks like you? In your belongings we found a wire cutter!”.

It is the refusal to assume:It’s a pincer, because I work in construction. I was young and stoned that day. These are not my statements made to the police…”

Thirty mentions on his locker

A civil party confirms the presence of his bicycle in a courtyard on rue Plati when he disappeared.

“It’s a work tool and a model adapted to the cyclist that I am. I paid 8,149 euros for it and I’m claiming the same amount.” The floor will change gear with an overwhelming report.

“Suspected of theft in Monaco, this person has thirty mentions on his French criminal record, including twenty-two for theft with convictions in Paris, Amiens, Beauvais, Versailles, Grasse, Draguignan, Geneva, Metz. He is also wanted for fraud since December 2020 and for escape by the French authorities:”

The reaction rocketed: “It is a mistake. I currently live off odd jobs.”

It does not matter for the first substitute Valérie Sagné. “There is some consistency with this research and your record. We will inform the neighboring country. In this procedure, there are two facts. I request the join. For narcotics, it’s for personal use. The video ? There is no question of extrapolating the vagueness. The scooter ? It was used for tracking. This gentleman has come to Monaco twice to steal. Not everyone walks around with wire cutters. It is his cash traffic that allows him to have money to live on by selling bicycles at a lower price.”

After firm requisitions for two months, the defendant persisted in his contestation of the facts alleged for his defense. “It’s not stolen money I had on me. You doubt it because I’m homeless. At the Public Security, the inspectors spoke of a single bicycle. You have no evidence against me. That’s all…”

The court went beyond the requisitions of the public prosecutor with three months in prison. He awarded the 8,149 euros claimed to the civil party.