Thirteen chocolates, and a sentence — nearly eight years: the most expensive trip to Aurora

Inhulskyi District Court of the city of Mykolaiv issued a verdict against a local resident who stole from a store 13 bars of chocolate, and then fled from an employee of the establishment. The decision was made 4 August 2026 in case No.489/5093/26. Information about the case proceedings can be checked on the portal “Judicial Authority of Ukraine”.

The incident occurred on April 20 at about 11:07 in the store “Avrora” at 238-H Troitska Street. According to the case materials, the man took from the shelves seven Milka bars with raspberry filling, five Millennium bars with peanuts and one large Milka with cheesecake flavor. He hid the goods under his jacket and headed for the exit. The value of the chocolate amounted to 1,476.65 UAH excluding VAT, or 1,772 UAH at retail prices.

The theft was noticed by store employees through the surveillance cameras. One of them ran after the man and demanded that he stop and return the goods. He glanced back, looked at her, but began to run in the direction of the Bashtansky market. During the escape he dropped four bars of chocolate. At the market the man tried to sell the stolen goods to an unknown woman. Later he got on a minibus, and in the evening of the same day he was detained in the center of Mykolaiv.

In court the accused did not deny taking the chocolate, but insisted that he committed ordinary theft. He claimed that he did not understand who had demanded that he stop, and that he ran allegedly to avoid a conflict. The defense asked to reclassify the case from robbery to theft. However, the court refused: after the employee noticed the theft and demanded the return of the goods, the man continued to retain the chocolate and fled. Therefore the secret theft, in the court’s conclusion, escalated into open appropriation of property — robbery. Guilt was corroborated by recordings from the store’s cameras, a neighboring supermarket and the “Safe City Mykolaiv” system, as well as by the testimonies of the employees.

The man was found guilty under Part 4 of Article 186 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — robbery committed during martial law. For this crime he was sentenced to 7 years 6 months of imprisonment.

At the time of the incident the Mykolaiv resident was on conditional early release and had an unserved portion of a previous sentence. After its partial addition the final term amounted to 7 years 8 months of imprisonment. The convicted person must also pay the store owner 1,376 UAH in damages. Another four bars worth 396 UAH were returned to the retail establishment. Until the verdict takes legal effect the man will remain in custody. The decision can be appealed in the Mykolaiv Court of Appeal within 30 days.

Previously we wrote:

• Knew the password to “Privat24” and had someone else’s SIM card: in the Mykolaiv region a serviceman stole nearly 55 thousand
• Women’s underwear landed a man in prison: shopping without paying at the register failed
• A repeat offender stole a brushcutter at a gas station in Mykolaiv — the court sentenced him to over seven years in prison
• Stole a jackhammer — “squat” for five years: a recidivist was tried in Korabelnyi
• “Went shopping” without money: a man took alcohol and cigarettes from a store in Mykolaiv