06 Dec Tabletop phone thief jailed for 8 weeks
Tabletop phone thief jailed for 8 weeks
A mother of 3 has been sentenced to 8 weeks in prison for the theft of a mobile phone in what was described by the judge at the case as a “very serious offence”. Westminster magistrates court court heard how on the 25thSeptember 2019, Florentina Chichari was out begging with an accomplice in Market Place when she entered a café and stole an iPhone X off a table belonging to a Chinese national student. Florentina was chased after by the victim and a group of males shouting that she had stolen his phone, an altercation ensued, and plain clothed police officers descended onto the scene. She was taken to Charing cross police station where she answered no comment to all questions and was kept in custody due to having no fixed address. She entered a not guilty plea on September 26thand had no previous convictions.
Florentina had only been in the UK for a month before committing the crime and has been living with her sister since she arrived. She claimed that the phone was going to be sent back home for her children. The defendant repeatedly apologised to the judge for her crimes and asked that they reconsider her position before her sentence, as well as asking to be sent back to Romania, which the judge said could not be done on the day and had to be dealt with at a later date.
