Court jails man for 10 months, orders 1.16 million krónur in costs

A man has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for theft, shoplifting, unauthorised use of a vehicle and traffic offences, and ordered to pay 1,155,573 krónur in legal costs. Reykjanes District Court also upheld his lifetime driving ban, mbl.is reports.

Among the offences was driving under the influence of drugs while running red lights, driving on the wrong side of the road and failing to obey police orders to stop. The man, Aron Romanik, pleaded guilty. The court accepted his plea, which was consistent with the evidence, and decided the case without further proceedings to hear evidence.

The six counts covered offences committed between November 2024 and April 2025. The case was brought by the Capital Area Police Commissioner on 20 July. The court delivered its judgment on Monday and published it on Wednesday.

Thefts and shoplifting

On 14 November 2024, Romanik broke into a car in a parking garage and stole two electric guitars and a mixing console, with an estimated value of 1.5 million krónur. On 26 March 2025, he took a wristwatch and two leather straps from a jewellery shop in Reykjavík and left without paying. The items had a sale value of 46,700 krónur.

On 4 April, he broke into a restaurant and stole a cash drawer, a tablet and 25,000 krónur in cash. The stolen goods were valued at an estimated 177,900 krónur in total. Six days later, he stole about 100,000 krónur from a shop’s cash drawer. On 13 April, he broke into a car by a petrol station and stole clothing of unknown value.

Drug driving and police pursuit

On 31 March 2025, Romanik took a car without permission and drove it through Borgartún in Reykjavík while disqualified from driving. The court found he was unfit to drive safely because of the effects of drugs. A blood sample showed amphetamine, clonazepam and oxycodone.

He failed to stop when police signalled with emergency lights and sirens. He drove through red lights at the junctions of Borgartún and Hallgerðargata, and Borgartún and Kringlumýrarbraut, and crossed onto the wrong side of the road along Borgartún. Police stopped him near Sóltún shortly afterwards.

In setting the sentence, the court noted that Romanik had repeatedly been convicted of acquisitive offences. This was his seventh conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and his fourth for driving while disqualified. His guilty plea was considered in his favour, but the court said his criminal record did not justify suspending the sentence.

The first two offences took place before he was sentenced to 16 months in prison on 28 March 2025. The sentence for those offences was therefore added as an additional penalty to that earlier judgment.