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Brazen thief Bonaire gets 7 year prison sentence

KRALENDIJK- An extremely brazen thief on Bonaire who not only robbed many tourists, but even made selfies with things stolen by him, will not be able to strike again for quite some time.

T.M. was suspected of having committed thefts at mainly tourist spots on the island. In addition, there was a house burglary, a robbery, car theft and several cases of fencing.

Last year and the beginning of this year, the number of reports from tourists about thefts of money, mobile phones, wallets at 1000 Steps, Alta Mira and Seru Largu, among others, skyrocketed. In the months of April and May, after the arrest of M. on March 28, the number of reports was zero.

The Bonaire Police force conducted ongoing investigations over months using findings from seized phones, phone tapping, analyzing historical call records, witnesses and seized property. Various reports have been placed next to all those investigation findings and ultimately the suspect was now on trial for thirteen (13) criminal offences.

Serious

“These are very serious facts that have had a huge impact, not only from the point of view of social safety within the small community of Bonaire and the tourists who visit the island, and therefore also the image of Bonaire, but also with very large emotional consequences. for the victims,” ​​says a spokesperson for the Public Prosecution Service (OM) on Bonaire.

According to the Public Prosecution Service, the thefts were committed out of pure lust for money. M. also took pictures of the stolen goods for himself and left messages saying “Nobody can stop me”. One of the victims put it perfectly: “He took selfies holding the items he stole from us, proud and unashamed”.

Track record

Due to the brutality of the suspect in his thefts and the fact that he already has a long history with the police and the judiciary, the Public Prosecution Service demanded a prison sentence of nine (9) years.

The Court of First Instance sentenced the suspect on Wednesday to a prison term of seven and a half (7 ½) years.

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