Russia: 'bring me holy water for the rite' — and while the householder fetched it, the bedroom was emptied

Proceedings

1. 2017-09-14 · conviction and sentence at first instance

   Proletarsky District Court of Tver, Tver Oblast, Russia (Пролетарский районный суд г. Твери). The defendant, anonymised in the published judgment as ФИО1, was convicted on four counts: theft on a large scale with unlawful entry into a dwelling causing significant damage under п.«а,в» ч.3 ст.158 of the Criminal Code; two counts of fraud by deception and abuse of trust causing significant damage under ч.2 ст.159; and attempted theft with unlawful entry under ч.3 ст.30 and п.«а» ч.3 ст.158. On 19 January 2017 she approached a woman she did not know outside her home and, to ease her entry into the house, told her falsely that a curse lay upon her which she could remove; the victim believed her and invited her in. Between 14:00 and 15:00, having entered under that pretext, she asked the victim to bring her holy water for the removal, and on receiving the glass walked quickly into the bedroom and took jewellery valued at 273,000 roubles, a large scale under the note to art. 158. Immediately afterwards, in the same house, she formed a further intent and obtained property from the same victim by deception. The further recorded losses were 5,000 and 24,500 roubles against two other victims. The fourth count was an attempt which was not completed for reasons beyond her control. She received three years on the theft count, two years on each fraud count and two years six months on the attempt, aggregated by partial addition under ч.3 ст.69 to five years' deprivation of liberty in a general-regime correctional colony, with time in custody from 30 May 2017 credited. Compensation of 273,000, 5,000 and 24,500 roubles was awarded to the three victims.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• the curse claim used specifically to secure an invitation indoors — the court found she approached the victim «для облегчения... проникновения в указанный дом»
• holy water requested as a material the rite required, which sent the householder out of the room on an errand she had reason to believe was part of the treatment
• the interval used to enter the bedroom: the judgment records that on receiving the glass she «быстрым шагом проследовала в комнату»
• a second deception run on the same victim immediately after the theft, so the encounter continued as though nothing had happened
• the same approach attempted at a fourth household, where it failed for reasons outside her control