Sometimes a very small cause has a big effect, as in the case of a 66-year-old who was tried at the Ebersberg district court. The offense that the pensioner was accused of was extremely insignificant: she was caught fare dodging on the S-Bahn the summer before last. According to the indictment, the train missed a fare of 3.30 euros. The 66-year-old now has to bear very severe consequences for this relatively minor damage: district judge Vera Hörauf sentenced her to two months in prison without probation.
The defendant had testified that she was on the way back from a doctor’s appointment and a little confused. That’s why she just forgot to buy a ticket. But she would have had one on the way there, the 66-year-old assured. She also paid for the “increased transport fee”, i.e. the 60 euros that the train collects from fare dodgers.
The defendant has eleven previous convictions
The fact that this was of little use to her in the end was mainly due to the fact that the pensioner is no stranger to the court. Over the past 20 years, she has accumulated 11 convictions, all but one count of perjury related to property crimes, such as infidelity and theft. Because of the latter, two probations are still open for the defendant. However, the 66-year-old has often been caught “cheating on benefits”, as legal experts call them fare evasion. She has been convicted a total of four times, each time for a whole series of individual fare evasions.
The now accused trip without a ticket happened just a few days after the last conviction for theft, at that time the court had imposed a fine, despite the open probation. Which, by the way, apparently aren’t going particularly well either, according to the chairman, the probation officer hasn’t been able to contact the accused for almost two months – apparently she doesn’t answer the phone when he calls.
What has a very serious background, the defendant has been proven to suffer from mental problems. There was talk of depression at the trial, and anxiety disorders also appear to occur. Because of this, she has in fact hardly any contact with anyone, according to the accused. She leaves her apartment as seldom and as briefly as possible, for example to go shopping. She said she had to call an ambulance when the panic attacks got too bad.
The 66-year-old wants to go into therapy
The judge asked what the situation was with therapy. The pensioner had declared that she wanted to start one during the past negotiations. The 66-year-old said she was about to be admitted to a day clinic. She explained that she had not gone to such a facility earlier by saying that she had had to go to a doctor a few times beforehand and everything had been delayed anyway because of Corona. But now everything has been processed and she is really happy when she can finally go to the clinic, the accused said. A statement that you have heard from this more often, said the chairperson.
The representative of the prosecution certified that the accused had a “high rate of recidivism” and that they had apparently not been deterred by the penalties imposed so far. As a result, she applied for a three-month prison sentence without parole. “It’s pretty intense,” said public defender Florian Alte in his plea. After all, it is only a damage of 3.30 euros. Despite the many previous convictions, a sentence of one month is appropriate, which can exceptionally be suspended again if the accused is also required to go into therapy as soon as possible. For the most part, however, the chairman followed the prosecutor’s request, even if the sentence was a month shorter. “We hear a lot of excuses why the therapy didn’t work, just like the last few times – I can’t think of anything anymore.”