Burglars and arsonists
Burglary belongs among the most frequent crimes. Burglars usually break a window of a house, get into it and steal money or things there. They usually don´t intend to cause lots of damage.
I still remember a case which was different and which happened in winter a few years ago. Two burglars got into a remote cottage of a family, that they knew and stole things like a tent, a pair of ski, lawnmower, a few bottles of spirit and other things. They knew that the cottage was abandoned during winter. After that they hid the stolen things in the flat of one of them to sell them later, because they needed money. The next day they met themselves again and decided to go back to the cottage and set it on fire, because they were afraid of their finger prints to be found there by the police. That’s why the same day they arrived there with a can of petrol and started the fire and the cottage was completely destroyed.
Police started a large investigation. Lots of people were questioned and our burglars belonged among the main suspicious people, but they denied both burglary and arson. In spite of this the police found out that our burglars, living in a great poverty, had suddenly things like lawnmower and a pair of ski. They were not able to explain it and they didn’t want to give things like this to the police to control, so the judge arrested them and ordered a house serching in their dwellings and the stolen things were really found there. After that one of the burglars confessed the crime and described the whole action and during confrontation between them the second one confessed too.
The investigation didn’t last long and the trial was finished during one hearing. The burglars were lucky because the penalty for their crime was between 6 month and 3 years of prison. It wasn’t possible to use more strict penalty so they were sent to prison for 2 years. The prosecutor accepted their punishment. Both burglars appealed but they were not successful. They also were ordered to pay the damage, but they wouldn’t be able to do it, because they were without money and without any property.
I have to add, that while the value of stolen things was only around 30 000,- CZK (1 000 euro), the value of the cottage with furniture and other things was more than 1 800 000 CZK (60 000 euro).