Ukraine: eighteen months' imprisonment for a woman who took a stranger's gold in a Poltava park under the pretext of divination and curse removal, promising to return it after the rite

Proceedings

1. 2010-07-07 · conviction and sentence at first instance

   Kyivskyi District Court of Poltava, Ukraine (Київський районний суд м. Полтави). The defendant, anonymised in the published judgment as ОСОБА_2, was convicted of fraud under part 1 of article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and of theft under part 2 of article 185. One year's restriction of liberty was imposed for the fraud and one year's deprivation of liberty for the theft, cumulated under article 70 to one year six months' deprivation of liberty; she remained in custody, with the sentence running from 7 December 2009. The court found that on about 10 September 2009 she approached the victim in Pavlenkivskyi Park in Poltava and, having gained her confidence, obtained her property 'under the pretext of divination and the removal of a curse' — 274 hryvnia in cash together with a gold chain, two gold rings, a gold bracelet, gold earrings and a Czech glass brooch — 'having convinced [the victim] that she would return these items after the rite of divination'. The total loss was assessed at 5,924 hryvnia. The second count concerned a separate theft on 12 October 2009 in which the court found the defendant exploited the helpless state of another woman.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• an approach to a stranger in a public park, gaining her confidence
• the pretext of divination and curse removal as the reason for handing over jewellery
• an assurance that the items would be returned once the rite of divination was complete