A Serbian woman has been sentenced to ten months in prison for burglarizing an apartment in Monaco and stealing €15,700 worth of jewelry, luxury bags, and gold coins.
Exactly one year ago, on June 24, 2023, two Monaco residents returned home to find their front door forced open. Inside, they discovered that their valuable jewelry, luxury bags, and gold coins had been stolen. They immediately called the police and filed a report. Fortunately, the victims had installed a surveillance camera to monitor their cat, which captured clear images of a woman’s legs and face.
During the police investigation, the woman’s identity remained unknown, but physical details and DNA evidence were collected. The stolen items were valued at €15,700.
On Friday, June 14, 2024, a building caretaker on Boulevard d’Italie encountered a suspicious woman he had never seen before during a routine check. He called the police, but the woman fled before they arrived. However, a police officer decided to search the nearby area, including a construction site. There, in a studio closet, the woman was found hiding and making distress calls.
The description matched, and the suspect was immediately arrested and taken into custody. Without identification, she spoke several languages during questioning, giving various names and birthdates. Eventually, her identity matched the wanted notice from June 24, 2023. The surveillance footage showed a woman with the same split left earlobe and hairline, and DNA confirmed it was the same person.
Initially denying the charges during her immediate court appearance on June 17, the woman, eventually identified as a Serbian born on January 28, 1972, and residing in a nomadic camp in Menton, confessed to the burglary. She admitted, "I stole in exchange for a camper van. I needed it for my three children. I apologize. I did not return to Monaco to steal; I was looking for work," she said in Italian before the verdict.
After deliberation, the Monaco court sentenced the 52-year-old woman to ten months in prison and a ten-year ban from the country, exceeding the prosecutor’s request for eight months. Her mobile phone was confiscated as it showed 27 calls from the same number on the day of her arrest. The victims also reported hearing a second person on the surveillance footage during the burglary.
The victims were awarded €5,400 for material damages and €3,500 for moral damages but have not recovered any of the stolen items to date.