A 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy were convicted on Thursday morning for an armed robbery at a gas station in Deurne. The youngest offender has to spend 120 days in juvenile detention. He drew inspiration from films of robberies in the investigation program Opsporing Verzocht.
The other perpetrator was given 140 hours of community service and a three-month suspended prison sentence.
The boys entered a gas station together in January and threatened an employee with a knife. They made off with 235 euros from the till. According to the court, the boys did not care about the victim, who is suffering a lot from the robbery.
Investigation Requested
The youngest suspect looked to Opsporing Verzocht to find out how to commit a robbery. Then he asked the other boy at school to come with him in the evening.
“One of the boys used the money to silence his group members about the robbery. He also bought candy from it. The other boy bought cigarettes for his group members,” the court writes.
“It is in favor of the oldest boy that he wrote a letter to the employee of the gas station shortly after the robbery because he was sorry. The court feels that this comes across as sincere.”
Reduced Accountability
According to a psychologist, the 15-year-old boy is slightly less responsible. The chance of repetition would be high with him. That is why he also gets a suspended prison sentence of 60 days.
The boys have to pay the threatened employee more than 1500 euros in damages.