The long-running case in Palermo, the capital of the Italian region of Sicily, has been held up as an example of trivial cases clogging up the island’s justice system.

The 2013 incident involved a 32-year-old mother who says she accidentally left a clothing store with a €19.99 pair of slippers without paying for them, PalermoToday reports.

Although she was stopped and she returned the slippers with a profuse apology, prosecutors kept the investigation open for three years before bringing her to court to demand a four-month sentence and a €200 fine.

She was eventually slapped with a one-month suspended sentence, a €50 fine and costs, but her defence team has now succeeded in appealing the ruling.

The woman was acquitted on appeal on the basis that the alleged crime was trivial.