Remember the bank robber who waited on the sofa at the request of his “victim” tellers? He may have competition for most polite criminal with a 23-year-old woman from the rural town of Noto, Japan.

In fact, her attempt at armed robbery of a convenience store was so gentle police are currently unsure what charges they can press.

Around 8pm on the evening of 5 January a woman burst into the Circle K convenience store brandishing a large blade like a kitchen knife.

“Give me all the money” she demanded of the clerk.

Apparently sensing this lady didn’t mean business the clerk decided to flat out lie and said “there is no money.”

The woman, caught off guard by this sudden new development quickly lost the heart for crime and dejectedly requested the clerk to “call the police, please.”

The clerk accepted and called 110 to which the police promptly responded and came to arrest the young woman. Upon her arrest the woman confessed saying that she simply wanted some money.

Taking this story at face value it would seem that the woman lost her nerve and folded under the pressure of threatening people.  On the other hand, maybe – just maybe – this woman is a criminal genius on the level of Keyser Söze.

According to reports, as of this writing, police are carefully investigating the details of this incident including whether or not the woman’s actions qualify for attempted robbery charges.

It begs an interesting dilemma on where to draw the line of “attempted robbery.” If someone in a full body cast tells another person to hand over their money, technically they are attempting to rob.  However, should they be charged with a felony?

Holding the knife would seem qualify her to be charged but based on the clerk’s reaction she apparently didn’t present any threat in spite of her weapon. It’s a dilly of a pickle.

Source: News 24 via My Game News Flash (Japanese)