I’d imagine that a Guelph Ontario couple is going through a range of emotions this week. Why .. well .. earlier this week they discovered that their house had been robbed.
A door screen had been damaged when the thief broke into their house and some items were stolen before the thief left the house. One of the items was the mans X-box and another item was a camera.
The family didn’t even know they’d been robbed until they awoke the next morning and found a green bag outside their front door with the stolen items inside it along with $50 to repair the screen and a note of apology for the robbery.
“I can’t put it into words how sorry I am,” the thief explained in the typed note, adding they were having financial trouble.
“This is the first and last time I will ever commit a crime… Please find it in your hearts to forgive the stranger who harmed you.”
The note explained the thief felt “ashamed” and would perform at least 15 hours of community service to “partially atone” for the crime.
In the news story that I saw the police said that they’d still have to search for the thief and charge him or her if they’re found as a crime was committed however I imagine that if that really was the first and only crime the person every committed and the fact that they returned the stolen items and showed remorse they might get a lighter sentence. As for the home owners they seemed relieved to have their items back even though they hadn’t realized they’d been stolen and they just seemed surprised that the person who’d robbed them had returned what they’d stolen.
Only in Canada – eh?