A repeat offender attacked an elderly man by initially offering help to navigate the city. For this crime, he will face seven years behind bars.

The incident occurred in February this year in the Primorsky district of Odesa. During lunchtime, a local resident noticed a disoriented elderly man who had come from Berezivka for business. Pretending to be friendly, the offender offered to show the necessary route to the 62-year-old grandfather and then suddenly snatched the mobile phone from his pocket.

Police quickly located the perpetrator in a nearby neighborhood and recovered the stolen phone, which was returned to its owner.

At the time of the robbery, the 39-year-old resident of Odesa already had previous convictions for property crimes and drug offenses. The court imposed a preventive measure of detention, which he did not utilize.

After gathering sufficient evidence, investigators charged the suspect under part 4 of Article 186 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine for openly stealing someone else's property, i.e., robbery committed during martial law. Upon completing the pre-trial investigation, which was supervised by the Primorsky District Prosecutor's Office, law enforcement sent the indictment to court.

After reviewing the evidence, the court found the defendant guilty of robbery and sentenced him to seven years of imprisonment.