THE HAGUE, Wednesday - A 14 year old boy who broke into several cars will not be punished. An Utrecht court only gave him three months suspended youth detention.

The boy broke into a car on 10 July and stole a laptop. He was arrested and released again. Three days later he broke into another car and took a camera and MP3 player. Released again, he broke into a car for the third time. He also cursed a police officer and, during one of his arrests, besmirched the police cell.

The Public Prosecutor had demanded 120 hours of community service and one month suspended youth detention. But the court did not impose any punishment because the boy had already served 11 months in a borstal for other - undisclosed - crimes. He felt himself sufficiently punished by this, according to the verdict.

The child does have to be guided by a family guardian for two years. He already had such a guardian at the time of the break-ins. As well as all this, the OM claimed the lad, from an undisclosed foreign background, also stole a scooter, but the judge considered there was insufficient evidence of this.