A 25-year-old woman and an 18-year-old man have been sentenced to prison in Wales after robbing a woman while she suffered an epileptic fit -- a crime the sentencing judge called “despicable.”
According to the BBC, Louise Boyce and James Thomas have been sentenced to 18 months behind bars for burglarizing the apartment of Kayleigh Nicholas as the 24-year-old woman had an epileptic seizure on the ground outside her home. Boyce and Thomas reportedly entered Nicholas' apartment and left with her TV, laptop and purse.
“This was a despicable offense,” Swansea Crown Court Judge Paul Thomas said of the crime, per the South Wales Evening Post. “As she was having an epileptic fit, instead of sending for medical help ... you took the opportunity to enter her flat and steal her property.”
According to the Evening Post, this isn’t the first time that Boyce or Thomas has been caught stealing.
Among other offenses, Boyce had “previously stolen her own grandfather’s mobile phone, damaged a shop window and stolen a box of chocolates,” the news outlet writes. As for Thomas, he’s reportedly admitted to stealing $30 from a bingo hall.
Back in March, police in the U.K. said that a 25-year-old woman had been robbed in Birmingham as she suffered an epileptic seizure on the street.
"This was a callous and terribly sad case,” said a police rep at the time, according to the Independent.