The criminal court in Antwerp has sentenced table skimmer Cliff H. in absentia to 25 months in prison. The man was very stubborn, already had 15 convictions on his record, and was now on trial for four pleasant evenings in the Antwerp catering industry without paying.
An employee of a catering business on De Keyserlei notified the police on September 9 because a customer did not want or could not pay the bill. The man had just consumed half a chicken and a carafe of red wine. When the police arrived, he was sleeping off his stupor on the couch of the restaurant.
The police immediately knew what time it was. The customer, Cliff H. (40), was no stranger to them. The table skimmer already had 15 convictions on his criminal record, in June the criminal court in Antwerp had sentenced him to a prison sentence of 6 months with probation for similar offenses.
“It’s me again”
The police drew up a report for the new facts, after which the public prosecutor’s office decided to summon Cliff H. for summary proceedings. However, H. never showed up and struck again a week later. In a café on the Groenplaats he had enjoyed a vol-au-vent and, again, a carafe of red wine. H., clearly under the influence, saw the humor in it when the police arrived on the scene. He greeted them with the words “it’s me again”.
H. was summoned again for summary judgment, but again did not appear in court. On the contrary. Four days later he was allowed to explain it again to the police when he refused to pay the bill of 55 euros in a Thai restaurant in the historic center. When the police arrived, H. was sleeping on the floor of the restaurant.
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The police decided to arrest him, but when he was transferred to the cell complex at Police Square, he swore at them loudly and spat H. on the ground several times. After he had slept off his intoxication, he was allowed to have sex again. Barely five days later it happened again. This time it turned out that H. did not want to pay in a bar, again at the Groenplaats.
Last Tuesday, Cliff H. stood trial in the Butterfly Palace for those four incidents. He failed again. The court sentenced H. to a total of 25 months in prison, a hefty punishment for such offenses. Normally the maximum penalty for bottlenecking is three months in prison. Because the court had summoned him separately for the four facts and H. was likely to repeat the offense, H. ultimately received four six-month sentences. He was given a month in prison for the defamation of the police.
