KOCHI: A burglar who broke into a locked house in Thiruvankulam near here in the early hours of Wednesday aborted his 'mission' after realising that he had broken into the house of a retired colonel, but not before flaunting his biblical knowledge and being ironical in the bargain.

The man pocketed Rs 1,500 and helped himself to the premium military beverage he discovered in the wardrobe, apparently to compensate for the risks involved in breaking into the house, but he left the place only after writing an apologetic message on the wall invoking the Holy Bible.

The burglar's writing

“I realised it was the house of an army officer only after seeing the cap. If I had known it earlier, I would never have broken into the house. Officer, please forgive me," the thief wrote on the wall. Then followed the coup de grace: "I violated the seventh commandment in the Bible. But then you will be there before me in the journey to hell,” he wrote on the wall!

He also left behind another bag, full of documents he stole from an adjacent tyre-shop, along with a note which said: “please give it back to the shop owner.”

According to the police, the burglar rummaged through the rooms and might have seen the military cap of the colonel which made him realise that it was an army man’s house. “His remorse was visible in the apologetic messages he wrote on the wall which included the seventh commandment from the Bible that state ‘Thou shalt not steal’,” said a police officer.

“I violated the seventh commandment in the Bible. But then you will be there before me in the journey to hell,” he wrote on the wall. After writing this, he expressed his apologies to the colonel by writing “I realised it was the house of an army man only after seeing the cap. If I had known it earlier, I would never have broken into the house. Officer, please forgive me,” the thief wrote on the wall.

The house owner, a retired Army Colonel, was away in Bahrain with his family for the last two months and the ‘remorseful burglary’ came to light when the servant came to clean the house later in the morning. Alerted by her, the police rushed to the spot and found that the burglar entered the house by breaking the door using an iron rod, which he procured from the compound of the house.

The intruder might have tried other shops in the area before entering the Colonel’s house, the police said. “He also wrote on the wall that he stole a dress, Rs 1,500 and a little alcohol. We suspect that he might have turned remorseful due to the alcohol-induced high. If any other valuables were stolen, it cannot be confirmed until the family returns. Though the CCTV images in the house showed the blurred images of a man, the face is not clear,” said J Raj Kumar, inspector, Hill Palace police.