Four years in prison for petrol station robberies

For robbing three petrol stations in a short time, a man has been sentenced to 48 months in prison, 12 of which are on probation. The judge charged him heavily for traumatising employees of the shops.

In mid-September, the man looted 455 euros and cigarettes during a robbery at a petrol station in Rosmalen. Two days later, he hit a petrol shop in Heeswijk-Dinther. His proceeds then were limited to 360 euros. In Schaijk, he managed to appropriate 925 euros again a few days later. In all these robberies, he acted rather brutally by grabbing station employees by their clothes and threatening them with a knife.

Cry for help

That the man committed these acts is beyond dispute for all concerned. The court further allows for the fact that his actions firmly traumatised the employees of the robbed petrol stations. This is evident from their explanations of compensation for material and immaterial damages they claimed from the robber, which were partly granted by the judge. That charged that the man allegedly committed the robberies as a cry for help for his own problems, but he went ahead with it after the first robbery and did not report to the police even though he knew he was wanted.

Cell sentence limited

For the robberies themselves, the court finds nothing less than a prison sentence appropriate. Yet it does not maximise it: the sentence is limited to four years and is suspended for one year of that. This in fact allows for a number of special conditions to be imposed. For example, the mugger has to go to the probation service until it judges that this is no longer necessary. He must also be admitted to a care institution for his problems and then remain under treatment, again until others decide for him that the course is over. The man is further banned from taking drink and drugs, while he must look for a job and work on paying off his debts.