Excuses, Excuses - Get Out of Jail Free

excuse links to original article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 4 April 2012)

When she was caught red-handed the woman said 'I stole
because I have five children in private schools.' Turns out
she has a record of 110 robbery arrests and each time she's
caught she comes up with a different excuse.

In Bağcılar, Istanbul, Cennet Yılmaz (37) was caught red-handed
stealing gold from a jewelry store the evening before last. It was
the 110th time she's been arrested for robbery. In her statement
Yılmaz said that 'I'm regret it. I have five children. My husband
abandoned us. My children go to private schools. My grandchild
is ill, as well. And I need medicine. Since I didn't have any money
I tried to get the gold from the jeweler. I want to be tried without
being jailed.' (Yılmaz will remain in custody during her trial).

It is understood that whenever Yılmaz gets caught stealing she invents
a new excuse. She was caught in 2008 in Izmir' and said at that
time 'my children are sick so I stole.' After being arrested in
Adapazarı in 2011 her excuse was 'my husband made me steal.
If I don't steal he beats me. He spends the money on other
women.'

According to Turkish law, the penalty for robbery is from one
to three years but even those who get the maximum sentence
are let out of jail at most after two years. There is a feature of
the law that thieves know well, one that allows them to avoid
a penalty - paragraph 147 stipulates that if there was a severe
or urgent need involved in the robbery then the sentence can
be reduced or voided. Lawyers say that thieves make various
excuses in their statements in order to avail themselves of
paragraph 147.