Former soldier sentenced for stealing clothes in Monaco
After 12 years in uniform, this former Italian Navy seems to have been transformed into a “fashion victim”.
It is an atypical profile, to say the least, that the Monaco criminal court ruled on Tuesday 17 January. Former soldier in the Italian Navy and now a naval engineer in Monaco. The man has indeed nothing of a delinquent.
However, on November 5, 2022, this 30-year-old was caught stealing a Loro Piana sweater and scarf worth over 4,000 euros from a shop in the Principality. It was the staff of the luxury boutique located in the Carré d’Or Place du Casino, who alerted the police when they saw the customer leaving with unpaid items. In addition, the agents noticed that the man had come a few days earlier and that a t-shirt labeled at 3000 euros had disappeared (the facts having not been reported, the defendant is not prosecuted for this) .
With comfortable incomes of around 7,500 euros per month, magistrates struggle to understand the attitude of the man in front of them. “Why steal? », then asks the President. With undisguised shame, he answers with the help of an interpreter: “I had just changed jobs and cities. At that time, I was without landmarks, destabilized”. An explanation that does not really convince the judge: “There are millions of people who change jobs and who are not found stealing! ».
10,000 euros of clothes on him
In apologizing, he admits to having difficulty sleeping since the incident. “It’s a unique episode that will not happen again”hammers the lawyer of the one who seems, according to the court, “be fascinated by luxury goods”. In fact, he wore “more than 10,000 euros worth of clothes on the day of his arrest”clarified the judge on reading the file. “Tom Ford bag, Rota, Stone Island, Moschino pants…”he enumerates aloud.
“I think he’s not the only one who loves luxury goods in Monaco, Mr. Bernardi points out. Yes, he can afford to buy these items, but in my opinion, he is looking for the adrenaline he no longer feels. You know, he served 12 years on one of the biggest ships in Europe. Lieutenant, 250 people were under his command. Even if it was by choice that he left the army, he now finds himself an ordinary employee. »
Never sentenced in Monaco, nor in France and Italy, this childless bachelor “must look deep inside himself, and possibly with the help of a psychologist, why he found himself in this situation”thinks the Prosecutor who demands against him a fine of 1000 euros. “If it happens again, the sentence required will be much more substantial”he warns in passing.
The court followed the requisitions of the public prosecutor, and also granted the request for the non-registration of the conviction in the criminal record. “Working in Monaco is a great privilege”slides the defendant into a relaxation at the end of the trial.