“Being arrested is the best thing that ever happened to me,” declares the defendant, his head lowered, nervously fiddling with his fingers, while the gaze of his victims pierces his back. Aged 38, this homeless man of Tunisian nationality was on trial…
“Being arrested is the best thing that ever happened to me,” said the defendant, his head bowed, nervously fiddling with his fingers, while the gaze of his victims pierced his back. Aged 38, this homeless man of Tunisian nationality was tried in immediate appearance by the judicial court of Bergerac (Dordogne), this Monday, July 1. He is accused of 18 acts of simple or aggravated theft, committed in the space of a month. Wallet, handbag, bank cards, cash…
“The best thing for me is to go to prison to get help with addiction”
Of the 16 victims, half a dozen made the trip to join the hearing as civil parties. Most of them have white hair. Two of them are 99 and 100 years old. The presiding judge, Stéphane Genicon, praised their courage in coming forward. And pointed out their state of vulnerability. The defendant, who acknowledged all the facts, responded through his interpreter: “I didn’t feel like I was choosing my victims that much. Stealing is always difficult… I apologize.” To which the presiding judge replied: “The fact remains that if you had targeted the local rugby team, it wouldn’t have happened the same way…”
“Old Lady Thief”
Placed in police custody on June 28, after being caught red-handed stealing yet another handbag in the parking lot of a shopping center, the accused with no prior record Mohammed Chouchane explains his action by his addiction to crack. Arriving irregularly in France in 2019, and under obligation to leave French territory since January 2024, he says he became addicted after his wife, whom he married in 2022, left him. Which threw him into the street. “The best thing for me is to go to prison to get help against addiction,” he confides.
“He transformed himself into a thief of old ladies, following a logic of identification,” argues the public prosecutor, Gaël Bellet. He doesn’t steal to eat, but to shoot. » After an hour of deliberation, the court finally pronounced a sentence of five years in prison, as well as a permanent ban from French territory.
