Brief facts of the case

Xing, a middle-aged man who is an unemployed vagrant who is bored in his daily life, noticed one day that the "pilgrims" of the temple often put a lot of money into the merit box, and he suddenly had a bad idea, so he took advantage of the night to go to different temples many times to steal.

When the temple staff noticed that the money had decreased, they immediately chose to call the police. In April 2024, Xing was arrested while traveling in Yunnan, and was later prosecuted by the procuratorate for theft. As of the time of the case, Xing had stolen cash and merit boxes totaling more than 5,000 yuan from two temples in Changping District and Mentougou District on three occasions.

Heard by the courts

After trial, the Changping People's Court held that the defendant Xing had repeatedly stolen other people's property for the purpose of illegal possession, and the amount was relatively large, and his actions had constituted the crime of theft, and ruled that the defendant Xing X had committed the crime of theft, and sentenced him to six months imprisonment and a fine of 2,000 yuan, and ordered him to return a total of 5,000 yuan to the temple. The facts of the case are clear, the evidence is credible and sufficient, and the charges are confirmed. After defendant Xing X arrived at the case, he truthfully confessed the facts of the crime, voluntarily pleaded guilty and accepted punishment, and was given a lighter punishment in accordance with law, and the court made the above judgment. After the verdict was pronounced in court, Xing expressed his obedience to the verdict and did not appeal.

Judge's tip

According to article 264 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, anyone who steals public or private property, with a relatively large amount or multiple thefts, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or surveillance, and shall be fined concurrently or severally; where the amount is huge or the circumstances are serious, a sentence of between 3 and 10 years imprisonment and a concurrent fine is to be given; where the amount is especially huge or the circumstances are especially serious, a sentence of 10 or more years imprisonment or indefinite imprisonment is to be given, and a concurrent fine or confiscation of property.

Temples are usually places where people seek peace of mind, but some lawbreakers take advantage of the relatively free access to temples and extend their greedy hands to incense money, in a vain attempt to steal money and profit, and use the merit box as their own "cash box".

It should be made clear that the money in the merit box is not ownerless, but is donated to the temple by citizens with good intentions, and its ownership belongs to the temple, and it is usually used for public welfare purposes such as repairing the temple, protecting cultural relics, and giving alms to the poor. Stealing money from the merit box is a form of theft and is subject to legal responsibility.

The judge hereby reminds everyone that "a gentleman loves money and takes it in a proper way", no matter how big or small the money stolen is, it is ill-gotten gains, and you must not touch the red line of the law by chance, and any illegal acts will eventually escape the punishment of the law. We must stick to the moral bottom line, refuse to get something for nothing, be a law-abiding citizen, and don't regret it for a lifetime.

This article is transferred from the WeChat public account of "Changping Micro Law Daily", and I would like to express my gratitude!