Revolving door criminal Humphrey (71) from Tilburg has a criminal record of 35 pages. He made the mistake again in October in order to buy cigarettes. He stole coffee pods from the Jumbo. On Tuesday morning he was in court again. But this time a new type: the district judge. That was an advantage for Humphrey, but he saw it differently.
“I feel at ease,” Humphrey says to district judge Rob Goossens when he opens the case. Without knowing it, Humphrey experiences something unique. Because it is the first time that a district judge in Tilburg is handling a case.
“I think it’s better than regular court.”
Everything is slightly different in the Het Kruispunt community center in Sinopelstraat on Tuesday morning. There is a detection gate, employees with ‘justice’ on their jackets welcome you. After checking, everyone sits down, including the suspect. He likes the informal setting: “I like it better than the regular court,” Humphrey says to employees of the Traverse homeless shelter, who are also there.
A special room has been set up in the community center for the court hearing. Everyone sits together at a large, oval table. Because this case has been well prepared, Judge Goossens knows what Humphrey’s problem is: “If you have to live on thirty euros a week, it is difficult to buy a pack of tobacco for ten euros to smoke.”
Humphrey has incurred a considerable amount of debt in the past, did not pay his rent and had to leave his home. He now lives at the Traverse homeless shelter, where he has his own room.
“I can’t give my grandchildren a present.”
His debt burden is “significant,” Traverse employees told the judge. His state pension has been seized, which means Humphrey has no financial options. “I can’t even give my grandchildren a present for under the Christmas tree,” he says dejectedly. “I’m in a bind with you.”
The public prosecutor also sees that there is no point in putting Humphrey back in prison. She demands a suspended prison sentence of four weeks. The judge immediately makes a ruling and agrees to the demand, but with a probation period of two years.
“Severe punishment,” Humphrey grumbles. “But you don’t have to go to jail,” the judge responds. He closes the meeting and wishes him a nice day. “I hope so,” Humphrey grunts as he trudges out of the room.
“With such a criminal record, it is normally just a matter of dealing with it.”
Yet the revolving door criminal gets away with it well, Judge Goossens says afterwards: “For someone with such a criminal record, it is normally just a matter of settling the score. You have made mistakes so many times. Then you just sit back for four weeks.”
Not that it helps at all, as Goossens knows. That is why this time before the hearing there has already been consultation between all kinds of parties that are working on Humphrey’s problems: police, judge, homeless shelter. An administrator was then appointed to look over his mountain of debt.
Judge Goossens: “Because that was his reason for stealing those coffee pods, he had no money for rolling tobacco. And he has to smoke.” The district judge hopes that this is enough to keep him out of crime: “He might be able to get rid of his debts with debt restructuring.”
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