She didn’t manage to handle the entire amount of mail in time. But since they were RSA and RSB letters, she had to appear in court on Monday for abuse of office. She cited excessive demands due to personal problems as her motive. The judge left the minimum sentence of six months conditional.
The 22-year-old burst into tears right at the beginning of the trial; she was visibly nervous. She then described how she started at the post office and, following two weeks of training, was given her own delivery area. She started fanning the mail at 6:30 a.m. and then the delivery should be completed by 5 p.m. at the latest. But that didn’t always work out, and so she started hiding letters at home, in the company vehicle or at the depot.
“I still don’t know where my mom is”
She had lost her apartment due to financial problems and moved back home, but her mother soon said goodbye. “I still don’t know where my mom is,” she said. She had to care for her 17-year-old brother, and at some point it all became too much. She barely managed to file the letters in time and got help from office staff. But her boss soon stopped it. “She said there was no help for mail carriers.”
“I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart”
She insisted that she had never opened letters or forged signatures, she made the note “distorted” and had the mail items disappear. “I’m deeply sorry. I hope no one was harmed,” she said. She was simply overwhelmed; in just under four months she had already worked 130 hours of overtime. A witness from the post office said they might always “contact the group or site leader” if problems arose.
The judge imposed the absolute minimum sentence with a punishment range of six months to five years, and even this only to a limited extent. Diversion was not possible because the defendant had already received one once. “Something like this will never happen once more,” she insisted. The judgment is not final.
