A convicted armed robber was allowed to walk out of prison early after impressing judges on Georgian ‘The Voice’.
According to reports, Eona Kolbaia sung a prayer set to music on the Georgian local version of The Voice. Kolbaia was granted her freedom after making it to the quarter finals. During the finals, Kolbaia sang the song Kyrie Eleison, a version of a Catholic prayer for mercy.
But, why would such a talented singer end up in jail for armed robbery? Apparently she tried to rob a cab driver.
Kolbaia, who had been convicted of a 2012 heist when she and a male accomplice robbed a taxi driver in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, threatening him with a fake pistol before making off with cash, mobile phones and his car, had been allowed out of prison to attend auditions and recordings of the television show after prison officials recognized her talent.
At the end of the shower, the former Soviet state’s prisons minister Kakha Kakhishvilil walked on to the stage to tell her that even though she lost she impressed the parole board so much that that the government has decided to cut her sentence short. “We’ve been keeping a close eye on her,” the minister told the audience. Kolbaia responded by saying she was going “to use this opportunity to start my life anew.”