Chef jailed for “repeat” headphone thefts

Monday 02 March 2020

A chef has been jailed for three months for stealing four sets of headphones worth over £600 from iQ in the space of a week to give to his family as Christmas gifts.

Mihai Sandu (35) was handed the term of imprisonment over three charges of shoplifting last week by Assistant Magistrate, Peter Harris, who said an alternative sentence would not have been appropriate.

The Magistrate's Court heard that Sandu stole four sets of headphones, worth a total of £634, from the iQ Apple Store at Liberty Wharf during three separate incidents on 23, 27 and 30 December.

His offences were discovered when employees from the store looked at the CCTV footage after items had been taken from the shop.

One of the employees eventually recognised him, and Sandu was arrested on 3 January at the entrance of the store. 

Pictured: Sandu was arrested on 3 January just at the entrance of the store. 

Police later found all four sets of headphones – one of which was still in its casing – at Sandu’s home. The Centenier said there was no indication that the items had been damaged or could not be reused and that the Court had received no compensation claim from the store.

Sandu’s lawyer, Advocate Julia Anne Dix, urged the Court to follow the recommendations of the probation officer and impose a community service and probation roder.

She said all four stolen items had been retrieved and could be returned to the store to be sold on.

“This was not a case motivated by an addiction to drink, drugs or gambling,” she added. “There is no suggestion he took them to sell them on.”

Pictured: Sandu had stolen the items to take back to Romania as Christmas presents for his family.

The defence lawyer explained that Sandu had stolen the items to take back to Romania as Christmas presents for his family, whom he was planning to vist after the Christmas season.

She told Court, Sandu had moved to the island from Romania in March 2018 in search of better employment. She said that since then he had been employed as a chef in a local pub chain. 

Advocate Dix said Sandu was receiving £1,400 a month and sending £900 to his family and had been struggling financially at the time of the offence. She described the thefts as a “desperate measure” as Sandu had no money to buy Christmas gifts. 

She explained Sandu had been planning to visit his wife and son in January, after the end of the Christmas season, but hadn’t been able after his conviction and, as a result, hadn’t seen them for nine months.

Pictured: The Court heard that Sandu was sending £900 to his family every month.

Advocate Dix told Court that Sandu was “ashamed” of his actions and fully aware of their consequences.

However, she urged the Court to be lenient on his behalf so that he could “pay back something to society with a community service order”.

She argued that, if Sandu was jailed, he would lose his job, which would prevent him from supporting his family and force him to move back home. 

Returning his sentence, the Assistant Magistrate noted Sandu had received a previous conviction for shoplifting in January 2019, which had been of “sufficient seriousness” for the the Court to consider a prison sentence, before eventually opting for a community service order. 

While he acknowledged that a probation report recommended community service again, Mr Harris said Sandu “knew what he was doing each time” and had “targeted valuable and not inexpensive electronic goods as presents for his family”.

“The level of premeditation and repeat offending is such that I do not think that a non-custodial sentence is appropriate,” he added.

In total, Sandu was jailed for three months.