An eighteen-year-old boy from Groningen is sentenced to one year of juvenile detention, four months of which are conditional, for breaking into homes with sleeping residents in his hometown.
The teenager sneaked into houses to steal money and debit cards in particular.
The public prosecutor says that the boy has scared the hell out of residents: ,,It is a file that gives me the creeps when I try to imagine what many of the declarants have experienced. You are in your own house, in your own bed and you are sleeping. You can’t get much more vulnerable. You wake up with a start from an unknown man who suddenly stands next to your bed and you don’t know what his intention is. It must have been dead and terrifying, a nightmare to experience.”
The court’s verdict is equal to the requirement of the Public Prosecution Service: one year of juvenile detention. Four months of that is a suspended sentence.
Conversations with sleeping women
The boy crept into the houses at night and early in the morning and “took what he could get,” said the officer at the hearing. According to the officer, the boy “has no respect at all for other people’s belongings and privacy and was brutal by sneaking into houses, entering bedrooms and even starting conversations with sleeping women. The stories of victims make it clear how shocked they were and how great the impact has been and still is.”
The boy also had to appear in court for pinning with a stolen debit card and pickpocketing. He must pay several thousand euros in compensation to his victims.