Grandpa raided bank for sick granddaughter

Grandfather wanted to extort 50,000 euros from the bank

07/11/2012

Because the parents of a seriously ill granddaughter lacked the money for an important therapy, a 60-year-old grandfather attacked a bank branch in Hiddenhausen. In the bank itself, the perpetrator wanted to blackmail 50,000 euros from the bank with a gun in his hand. Because that did not succeed, the perpetrator fled without having received a euro. Despite the selfless act, the prosecutor brought charges against the perpetrator.

Grandpa wanted to extort 50,000 euros for a heart failure surgery
The service catalog of the statutory health insurance funds is limited to scientifically recognized treatment procedures. Only in exceptional cases will further therapies be funded if all other conventional therapies fail, and a life-threatening situation exists for the patient. Such cases often end up in court to persuade the cashier to pay the costs. Because the health insurance in a specific case also refused to take over the treatment costs for a young girl, decided a 60-year-old grandfather unceremoniously rob a bank in order to still raise the cost of an operation in the amount of 50,000 euros.

According to the prosecutor suffers the seven-year-old granddaughter from birth on a heart defect. The grandfather took the view that treatment in Eastern Europe could help the child. An application for reimbursement of 50,000 euros was rejected by the responsible health insurance. For this reason, the accused decided to summarily rob a bank, as the prosecutor Christoph Mackel stated in a statement.

The unemployed offender got a black cap, sunglasses and a false beard to dress up. Afterwards, in March of this year, the man drove to a bank in Hiddenhausen in the Bielefeld region. With a held weapon he demanded from a bank clerk at the counter exactly 50,000 euros for the treatment of his sick granddaughter, as the grandfather insured in the employee.

In the bank itself, the perpetrator, the matter apparently too delicate and suddenly fled without a captured cent. A short time later, the police carried out a large-scale search and searched for the alleged bank robber. As a result, the defendant volunteered a little later to the police.

After a brief imprisonment, the magistrate released him from prison, because there was no danger of escaping or dimming and the man was reasonable and self-confessed. The public prosecutor Bielefeld filed now charge for attempted bank robbery. The trial will take place in Bielefeld district court. An exact date for the hearing has not yet been determined. Until then, the man remains at large. In the case of probable conviction, the previously convicted defendant faces several years in prison. (Sb)