Fifty-year-old sentenced to three years in prison for thefts in Gembloux and Namur province
A 50-year-old man has been sentenced to sixteen months in prison by the Namur correctional court for a series of thefts financed by his cocaine addiction.
Sixteen additional months for a series of thefts in Namur and Walloon Brabant province
The Namur correctional court delivered its judgement on Friday 6 November: a 50-year-old man has received sixteen months in prison for thefts and attempted thefts committed between 2024 and 2025 in several municipalities in the region. According to DHnet, this sentence is added to the twenty months already imposed against him by the correctional court of Walloon Brabant, in Nivelles, bringing the total length of incarceration to thirty-six months.
Among the offences proved is notably a theft committed at the restaurant La Maison Blanche in Gembloux, as well as two thefts in the same shop. At the time of his arrest, the defendant had spontaneously informed police of an additional theft in this establishment, before investigators had even become aware of it.
The other offences concern several shops and establishments spread across Chaumont-Gistoux, Beauvechain and Wavre. Among the locations targeted were a computer shop, a hairdressing salon, the establishment Smith and Chips, the Royal Country Club and a care home. Attempted thefts in a restaurant and a tool shop were also charged against the defendant. Part of the charges was abandoned, due to insufficient evidence.
Before the court, the man explained that his cocaine addiction had led him to commit these thefts. He stated that he would only take cash, never equipment, in order to finance his consumption. His lawyer, Me Beert, had pleaded for autonomous probation or simple probation with conditions.
The public prosecutor's representative recalled the defendant's criminal record for similar offences and requested two additional years of imprisonment on top of the twenty months already imposed, contending that the repetition of offences justified a new sanction.
The condemned man and his counsel have thirty days in which to lodge an appeal against the decision.
Source: DHnet