Three men aged between 21 and 37, all of whom had worked on the Testimony II construction site for a Monaco employer, appeared on Tuesday, April 9 before the Monaco Criminal Court.
Following earlier thefts on the site, surveillance cameras and other security precautions caught out the culprits in the act of stealing power tools on Saturday, April 6.
The defendants cited drunkenness as a mitigating factor, but police officers reported that none of the men showed any signs of inebriety when apprehended with rucksacks full of Hilti tools, described as ‘the Rolls Royce of power tools.’
The youngest culprit said that he participated in the crime because he owed his mother 8,000 euros, adding that the work he did on the same site was dangerous and difficult.
The prosecutor asked for 18 months in jail for each defendant, but the court showed leniency and sentenced the three to eight months behind bars.
Meanwhile, Monaco police are investigating a string of thefts at other major building sites in the Principality, including Mareterra and the new hospital.
