The District Court of Debrecen announced its verdict on January 23, 2024, in the criminal case in which the defendants took advantage of the victims’ inattention or inability to defend themselves and stole their wallets and other valuables.
The district court found the first defendant guilty of the crime of robbery, the misdemeanor of misusing a cash-substitute payment instrument, the misdemeanor of misusing a public document, the misdemeanor of theft, and the crime of fraud committed using an information system.
Therefore, the 60-year-old man, as a multiple recidivist, was sentenced to 6 years in prison as a cumulative punishment and banned from practicing public affairs for 6 years. The accused, who is currently serving a legally binding prison sentence as a result of another case, cannot be released on parole.
Regarding the second defendant, the court terminated the proceedings at the preparatory session held on May 25, 2023, as he had died in the meantime.
According to the verdict, on April 10, 2022, at 5:24 a.m., the first-rate defendant boarded the train from Budapest Nyugati railway station to Debrecen with an acquaintance, and then they took their seats in the second-class carriage. Between Püspökladány and Debrecen, the first-rate accused got up from his seat, went to the first-class car, where he saw a sleeping man, took advantage of his inability to defend himself, and stole his wallet, documents and nearly HUF 47,000 from the victim’s coat pocket above his head. cash. The accused got off the train with his acquaintance in Debrecen.
On another occasion, the first-rate defendant boarded the train in Budapest, at the Kőbánya-Kispest stop, and then took a seat next to a young girl, into whose bag he reached unnoticed and stole a wallet containing personal documents, a bank card and HUF 30,000 in cash.
In March 2022, the first and second defendants boarded the train bound for Lajosmizsére at Nyugati railway station in Budapest, and then they picked out a man from whose jacket they stole his wallet. After the defendants got off the train, they tried to withdraw HUF 100,000 twice with the acquired bank card, and then – since they were unsuccessful – made several purchases with the bank card.
In the same month, the two defendants also traveled on the train from Szeged to Budapest, where they sat next to a family whose male member had a wallet stolen from his jacket. In three cases, they made illegal purchases in Cegléd with the bank card in the wallet.
The defendants traveled by train in the Budapest area on two more occasions, during which they stole the wallets of two victims, and they also made illegal purchases with the bank cards in them.
During the investigation of the case, the Debrecen police used new investigative methods, during which they were able to identify the main accused for the first time. During the analysis of the defendant’s movements, several crimes could be linked to him. During the procedure, the investigators in Debrecen also seized the camera footage of the stores where the stolen bank cards were used, and that’s when the second defendant was caught.
The court’s decision did not become final. The prosecution took note of the verdict, while the accused and his lawyer filed an appeal primarily for acquittal and secondarily for mitigation. The case continues at the Debrecen Court.
(Debrecen Court)
