45-year-old sentenced

Car mechanic stole Lamborghini: three years in prison

The defendant (45) was released from custody.

(Bild: Dostal Harald/Dostal Harald, Krone KREATIV)

The 45-year-old defendant broke into two car dealerships in Upper Austria: once he lost the loot on the run, once he drove off in a luxury car. During the trial on Tuesday at the Linz Regional Court, he already showed his routine.

The defendant, a 45-year-old Czech, was polite, eager to provide information and quite relaxed as he took his seat in the Linz Regional Court on Tuesday. This may also be due to the fact that it was not his first time: the 45-year-old already has eight relevant convictions to his name and was once again charged with burglary. On two days the previous year.

Loot lost
First, the trained car mechanic drove to Linz on December 23 to break into a car dealership. He cut open the safe with a welding machine. However, the 45-year-old lost the approximately 7,000 euros stolen from it because he was caught in the act and fled in a hurry.

Lamborghini located
On New Year's Eve, he struck again, this time at a car dealership in Neuhofen an der Krems. The Czech found the keys to a Lamborghini in an office there. Because he didn't get enough cash during the break-in, which he said he needed for an operation, he quickly got behind the wheel of the luxury car and drove to the Czech Republic. There, the Lamborghini - which is said to be worth just over 300,000 euros, although there had been talk of up to 400,000 euros in the run-up to the trial - was located and the thief was arrested.

Three years in prison
In court, he confessed fully and was remorseful, not looking for excuses. This mitigated the sentence, as did the fact that some of the thefts were attempted. However, the 45-year-old's relevant previous convictions and his rapid relapse into crime were aggravating factors. Hence the final sentence: three years' unconditional imprisonment.