By Desire Emmanuel, with Agency Reports
Desperate to get into prison and help his grandson inside there, a 60-year-old man from Guadeloupe, an overseas region of France, robbed a local supermarket at gunpoint and then waited patiently to be arrested by the police, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.
The unusual incident took place at the end of September in Sainte-Rose, a commune in the north of the Guadeloupe archipelago.
The man, who is a former firefighter with no criminal record, walked into a supermarket located near the police station with a balaclava over his mouth, holding a weapon.
After demanding all the money in the cash register and helping himself to “a piece of Emmental cheese and a bottle of wine,” the man was arrested as he slowly walked back to his car, as if he wanted to be caught.
It turns out that this was his goal exactly, as he wanted to get into prison to join his grandson.
“He was desperate: he wasn’t interested in money, he just wanted to get into prison to joim his grandson and at least spend some time with him,” Léa Le Chevillier, the man’s Court-appointed lawyer, told Agence France Press (AFP).
He added that during his recent visit, he saw his grandson in the visiting room “with a broken tooth after being molested by his fellow inmates.”
Prosecuted for armed robbery, aggravated assault, and rebellion, the sixty-year-old man appeared before the court and admitted the facts he was accused of.
However, “the completely unprecedented profile of the perpetrator” left everyone scratching their heads, including the trial judge, who, instead of the typical three to five years of prison time, ruled that the man acted out of desperation and should not pay such a high price for it.
The judge ordered him to compensate the victims of his robbery, receive psychological treatment, and refrain from visiting the shopping centre he robbed. He will also retain his right to visit his grandson, legally, without becoming an inmate in the prison.
