A 54-year-old woman from Hoogeveen has been sentenced to 140 hours of community service for theft from an elderly couple and a childcare center. She needed the money for her drug addiction.
The woman worked as a cleaner for the couple in May. She was given the bank card a few times to go shopping and therefore knew the PIN code.
Ultimately, she also paid more than 1,500 euros for herself. She has to pay that money back. She deeply regretted this, she said. She saw the elderly couple sitting in the courtroom for the first time after she was caught. She understood their anger, she said.
The woman understood that she had betrayed their trust. This also applies to the child center in Meppel where she worked in November 2023. She did her shopping on account for this center. Her signature was enough. She also did her own shopping on that account without permission.
In this way she disadvantaged her employer for 750 euros. She also admitted to stealing groceries from a supermarket in Westerbork and Hoogeveen in May and July.
The woman is working hard to get her life back on track. She is guided and treated. “Madam comes from far away,” said the prosecutor. The Hoogeveen woman has been convicted of theft once before. The demand proposed by the plaintiff was accepted by the judge.