Bank robber in Hanover wanted to go to prison – haul: ten euros
A 28-year-old homeless man robbed a Hanover bank branch with a knife and took only ten euros. The district court sentenced him to five months in prison – exactly what he had wanted.
Hanover: Homeless man robs bank – not for money, but for prison
A 28-year-old entered a bank branch in Hanover on 2 July, raised a 30-centimetre-long knife and demanded money. In the end he took ten euros – and then waited with his back to the window outside the bank for the police. According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Hanover district court has now sentenced the man to five months in prison without probation.
What initially seemed like a particularly amateurish robbery turned out to be a desperate act when the case came to court. Defence lawyer Clemens Anger explained that his client had not wanted to enrich himself – he had wanted to be arrested "to have a way out of homelessness". The defendant was homeless and drug-dependent at the time of the offence.
Judge Melle Klinkenborg confirmed in the ruling's justification that the man's behaviour supported this account: he had repeatedly asked for the police during the robbery and subsequently positioned himself outside the bank without attempting to flee. Nevertheless, the judge warned that there had been other options than threatening people with a knife.
According to the prosecution, the perpetrator initially demanded money from a member of staff in the branch, who stated there was no cash register. He insisted and repeatedly emphasised that it was not a joke. Finally, another branch employee took ten euros from his own wallet and handed it over. On the pavement, a witness offered the man more money if he would put the knife down – he did so, whereupon witnesses wrestled him to the ground.
In his statement to the court, the 28-year-old apologised to the witnesses and in his final words: "I was desperate and saw no way out." He had lived on the street, had been addicted to drugs and could no longer bear homelessness. During the hearing he mostly kept his eyes lowered and looked at the table.
The sentence matched the agreed pleas of both the prosecution and defence. In light of several previous convictions, probation was not granted. Both sides waived their right to appeal; the ruling is thus final. The witness who had given the convict the ten euros from his own pocket wants to recover the money from the evidence store according to his own account.
Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung