A violent robbery took place in Namur on November 30, 2023 in a jewelry store on rue de l’Ange. This was widely publicized, for several reasons: it concerned a well-known Namur house, a real institution, existing for 109 years and which has supported 3 generations. The events took place in broad daylight and were partly filmed.
One of the perpetrators, five Brussels residents in their twenties, entered the jewelry store and brought in three of his accomplices, armed and hooded, while a driver waited for them outside. They ordered the jeweler to lie on the ground, which he refused. He was threatened with two weapons pointed 50 centimeters from his head, but managed to trigger the alarm system and then lock himself in the safe room.
The jeweler then called the police and remotely closed the electric shutter. The robbers then placed the contents of the displays in bags and attempted to destroy the armoured door of the safe room and shot from the inside at the doors and windows to escape.
Two of them were intercepted by passers-by and 2 others by the police. The last one surrendered a few days later, after having remained hidden for long hours in the toilets of the Faculties of Namur.
“We were going to Namur to buy some jewelry and we were planning to return to school right after, for the last hour of class.“, said one of them. An attraction to easy money constitutes the motivation of the defendants, who have confessed to the facts, including having acted in association.
This Thursday, the Namur criminal court handed down sentences of 5 years in prison with probationary suspensions of 5 years for what exceeds the preventive detention already carried out against the five young defendants.
The court awarded the jeweler provisional damages of 7,000 euros and ordered the carrying out of a civil expert appraisal including a sequelae assessment.
