A 69-year-old Guadeloupean man has been sentenced to fifteen months in prison, including five months in prison with possible terms, for holding up a shopping center with a rifle in order to "enter prison" and find his imprisoned grandson, AFP learned from concordant sources, confirming a report from RCI radio.

The incident took place at the end of September in Sainte-Rose, in the north of Guadeloupe. The former firefighter showed up, wearing a beige balaclava, at a supermarket next to the local police station.

Armed with a rifle hidden in a shopping cart, he demanded the cash register after taking "a piece of Emmental cheese and a bottle of wine," his court-appointed lawyer, Léa Le Chevillier, told AFP.

The man was then disarmed and arrested by the police as he walked "calmly towards his car, parked in the parking lot," according to the same source.

"He was desperate: he wasn't interested in money, he just wanted to get into prison to see his grandson and at least go for a walk with him," explains Le Chevillier. According to her, the grandfather had seen his grandson in the visiting room "being molested by his fellow inmates, with a broken tooth."

In addition to "the completely unprecedented profile of the perpetrator", the commander of the Pointe-à-Pitre gendarmerie, Mathieu Morda, praised "the great professionalism" of his men in the face of "a complicated intervention", as they found themselves facing "a hooded individual, pushing a shopping cart, who took his weapon when they approached".

Prosecuted for armed robbery, aggravated assault and rebellion, the sixty-year-old father with a clean criminal record "admitted the facts and was able to appear in the CRPC", a procedure of appearance on prior admission of guilt.

According to Le Chevillier, her profile and heart problems weighed heavily in the decision of the Pointe-à-Pitre Criminal Court. "Generally, in this type of case, it's more like three to five years in prison," she said.

The man will have to compensate the victims, receive treatment, and no longer visit the shopping center in question. He will, however, retain his right to visit his grandson, this time legally.