A woman has been fined €250 after keeping a luxury leather handbag belonging to another passenger which she found in the toilets at Luxembourg Airport.
The Bottega Veneta handbag, which costs around €5,000, had been mistakenly left behind by a passenger in the ladies toilets in the airport’s arrivals area on 1 September last year.
The 61-year-old woman who came across the luxury handbag did not report her discovery and instead left the airport with it, despite the fact that the bag contained several credit cards, an ID card and passport with the owner’s name, and her iPhone, as well as other valuables.
The owner had realised her error within moments and had returned to the toilets, but by then her handbag had disappeared. The woman told police the contents of the bag were worth around €2,900.
Airport police determined from CCTV footage that immediately after the victim, another woman wearing an orange top and carrying a black bag entered the restroom – and shortly thereafter emerged with the pink handbag.
She then stood next to a man with whom she waited for luggage to arrive. At approximately 19:50, she was observed leaving the area with both bags and heading towards the airport’s parking area, where she got into a vehicle and drove off. A vehicle registration check meant the woman was able to be identified.
Phone not recovered
The following day, police officers rang the doorbell at the address and immediately encountered the woman from the CCTV footage.
Despite the evidence, she initially refused to hand over the handbag and engaged the officers in lengthy discussions. Only when the police announced they would carry out a search of the apartment did she give up the bag.
As the original owner’s phone was also missing, the police proceeded with a search of the apartment, but the phone was not recovered.
During police questioning, the woman denied the offence, claiming she had not intended to steal the bag, but had taken it from the restroom to return it to its owner.
She stated she was unaware that there was a police unit at the airport.
Furthermore, she explained that she could not hand the bag over to another police station on the same day because she wanted to do so accompanied by her daughter, as she does not speak any of the country’s official languages.
When asked by the court why she hadn’t given the bag to airport staff, she stated that she hadn’t considered that option.
The Justice of the Peace did not believe the woman’s version of the events in the ruling, a copy of which has been seen by the Luxemburger Wort. Pursuant to Article 508 of the Penal Code, the judge sentenced the defendant to a fine of €250 or, should she refuse to pay, to two days in jail.
Clear previous record
Article 508 stipulates that anyone who finds or accidentally comes into possession of another person’s movable property and then fraudulently retains it or passes it on to a third party is punished.
It provides for a prison sentence of between eight days and two years and a fine of between €500 and €5,000.
As the district court’s panel of judges referred the defendant to the police court rather than a criminal chamber due to mitigating circumstances – namely, the lack of prior convictions – the sentence is significantly lower than stipulated in the penal code.
In police-related matters, the legal range for fines is a minimum of €25 and a maximum of €250. The justice of the peace thus imposed the maximum penalty.
The verdict is not yet final and an appeal against the ruling can be lodged. Until the judgement becomes final, the principle of the presumption of innocence applies.
(This article was originally published by the Luxemburger Wort. Machine translated using AI, with editing and adaptation by John Monaghan.)
