This morning I read this (short) article about a thief somewhere in Italy (given how sad their economic state is, I wonder what is there to steal...). He entered a house at night, assuming the inhabitants would be sound asleep. Not so.
The owner of the house had problems falling asleep and so he heard how the thief broke into the house. He grabbed a butcher's knife from the kitchen and was able to restrain the thief until the police arrived (guess that will have taken some time).
They talked and so the owner of the house learned that the captured guy was out of work, and his wife only got invalidity for around 845 Euro. The couple had to live with so little, and in last resort the man took to thieving.
On hearing this, the owner of the house felt pity for the guy, and so he offered him a job after he paid his fine (you don't go to jail in our countries just for stealing some things). He could work in the garden and got hourly wages of 8 Euro. The thief was ever so glad and now the houseowerner's garden is in prime condition. The article did not mention whether the thief pays taxes on this income (I assume not, for who'd work for 8 Euro if you have to give up 4 of them to the taxman?)
What would you do when someone broke into your home? Here in Europe there are laws against shooting down burglars. You are only allowed to defend yourself, and then you still must be very careful how you do it. So if you shoot, better make sure the other one is dead, so he can't file a complaint... And then of course you must have a permit for the shotgun!
That’s an interesting tale. Sadly, that isn't usually the case when someone breaks into your house. Anyways, about those laws against shooting down burglars, I guess we can only oblige and do the best we can to secure our house from any threat of burglary, to avoid the predicament of whether you should shoot a thief dead so he can’t file complaint. As they say, prevention is always better than cure.
ReplyDeleteSophie French @ San Diego Alarm Systems
Thanks for responding, Sophie. At home, we just have good locks. We've been living there all our lives (so already 58 years) and never had a break-in.
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