“The guilt of the defendant Tomas Jarutis for the robbery has been fully proven,” says M. Galvičius, judge of the Šiauliai Chamber of the Šiauliai District Court, who heard the criminal case. “The accused confessed both during the pre-trial investigation and in court.”
According to judge M. Galvičius, the statements of the two victims, the scene of the incident, the inspection protocols of the objects, the specialist’s conclusion, etc. testifies that the accused Tomas Jarutis, at the specified time and place, using a knife and threatening it, and also using physical violence against one of the victims, stole their handbags. The accused stole property for 411 EUR from one victim, the total amount of stolen items from the other – 1,205 EUR and the money taken from the cash register in the employee’s backpack, almost 3,648 EUR. Since all things were returned to both victims, she did not file a civil claim.
The defendant Tomas Jarutis said in court that he committed the robbery in 2024. January 15 around 8 p.m. at a shop near Šiauliai. The man said that he used to run there before and had noticed how the saleswoman was leaving the store. That evening was a desperate situation, lack of money, threatened to be thrown out of the apartment, then he remembered the place where he hoped to get money. He went to the store, hid behind the corner of the outbuilding, waited for the saleswomen to leave, and attacked them. He thought that one saleswoman would leave, but that time two women left. He “peeled” the handbag from one of her shoulders, ran up to the other and asked her to hand over the handbag, but he also tore it off and ran away.
He wants to sincerely apologize to the victims, he is very sorry for his behavior, and especially for causing physical pain, because when he tore off the handbag, it fell to the ground, he bent down to pick it up and impulsively hit one of the victims in the face with the handbag.
The accused said that he had two knives with him, and the screwdriver was left in his jacket pocket from earlier. He had a knife in his hand and told the second woman to give him money, but she did not, so he quickly ripped open the backpack and ran away.
On the same evening, Tomas Jarutis was arrested and imprisoned.
The victim stated during the pre-trial investigation that at the end of work around 8 p.m. and as they went outside, locking the door of the shop, a masked man with a club in his hands, dressed in black, who was standing behind her, approached them. The man suddenly approached her and tore off her black handbag from her shoulder, and at the same time punched her once in the face. Then he rushed to the colleague shouting “give me the money”, he could see that he had a knife in his left hand, the blade was sticking out. She and her colleague were scared and returned to the store premises and called the police.
The other victim mentioned that the man shouted “give me the money”, she told him that she had no money. Then he growled angrier, and saw a knife in his hand. When she saw the knife, she was very scared, she didn’t do anything anymore, she just held out her backpack and the bag with products she still had with her.
The mitigating circumstance of the accused is that he admitted to committing the crime and is sincerely sorry. There are no circumstances aggravating his responsibility. Tomas Jarutis committed one criminal act, which is classified as a serious crime. The criminal act is complete, committed with direct intent.
The case was examined in the procedure of abbreviated examination of evidence, since the accused fully pleaded guilty and agreed that other evidence would not be examined, the examination of evidence in court was terminated. Since the accused fully confessed, was remorseful, the imposed sentence should be reduced by one third.
The verdict can be appealed to the Šiauliai District Court within 20 days through the Šiauliai Chamber of the Šiauliai District Court.
