Thief snatched purse from a grandmother at cashpoint
AN opportunist thief snatched a purse from the hand of a Nottingham grandmother seconds after she withdrew cash for her granddaughter’s birthday present.
Nottingham Crown Court head how Kobe Cashin waited behind the victim and then snatched it from her hand before racing off.
During his short course of offending, the 25-year-old then stole food from a supermarket and smashed the window of the Molton Brown shop in the city centre to steal more than £300 of goods.
Handing him an 18-month community order, Judge Rosalind Coe KC said: “You stole a lady’s purse at an ATM at Asda, I have seen her victim personal statement and it is apparent that has affected her quite badly and has knocked her confidence.
“Then there was a shop theft from Tesco and that, itself, can be described as spontaneous. The
burglary was committed with somebody else and at the time you were clearly living in a chaotic way and that ultimately led you to commit these offences.
“You have been remanded into prison custody since January 4 which means you have served the equivalent of something like a six or seven-month sentence. You have mental health difficulties, are vulnerable and subject to exploitation by others and that is the cause of why you became involved in these offences.”
Cashin, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to theft from a person, shop theft and burglary in relation to the Molton Brown offence. He has no previous convictions of any kind.
Jabeen Akhtar, mitigating, said her client was being exploited by others due to his mental health and vulnerabilities. Speaking about the cashpoint offence, she said: “There was someone else lurking in the background watching his activity and when he took the purse from the lady it was a very, very, quick grab from the hand. This was somebody acting under coercion and exploitation due to his mental health difficulties.”
As part of the community order, the judge ordered Cashin to carry out a 12-month mental health treatment programme and to attend 10 rehabilitation sessions.