What's the game-play rationale for having PotC potentially destroy swiped gear?

If the guy had something in his inventory the thief wanted, he probably could have stolen it. If the thief declines to steal some juicy piece of gear, figuring he can kill his prey outright and just loot it from the corpse, then PotC has the potential to screw the thief by destroying the gear he wanted.

Why not have the "gear swiped but destroyed" scenario just be "gear not swiped"? Would it how either party (thief or thief's opponent) acts?

>Would it how either party (thief or thief's opponent) acts?

Make that "Would it change how..."

>What's the game-play rationale for having PotC potentially
>destroy swiped gear?

I think it could be cool if in a some kind of semi-failure the snatched gear would drop on the ground instead of gear getting destroyed.