Unpaid work for Christmas vandal
A 20-YEAR-OLD man who went on a drunken vandalism spree on Christmas Day has been ordered to carry out unpaid community work.
Martin Pesta, of Richmond Street, Burton, appeared at Burton Magistrates’ Court and admitted causing a total of £750 damage to three cars in Belvedere Road, Horninglow.
The court was told that on the evening of December 25, he damaged a Peugeot 207 belonging to Duncan Carthy, a Vauxhall Corsa belonging to Luke Carter, and a Vauxhall Zafira belonging to Tazeem Akhtar.
Emma Thompson, prosecuting, said: “He was in drink.
“He went into the road causing damage to a nearside bumper, smashing a rear window and causing further damage to a third car.
“He was hitting out at random cars.” The court was told that earlier that night, Pesta had had an argument with his uncle.
After his arrest, Pesta told police: “I broke the car windows and stuff.
“It is all the anger inside me. I will pay for all the damage.”
Mrs Thompson also told magistrates that the defendant had a long list of previous convictions on his record — including an offence of dishonesty in May 2010, for which he eventually received a jail sentence after twice breaching community orders.
Neil O’Driscoll, defending, said his client drank ‘an astonishing amount of alcohol’ and had no memory of the incident.
He said: “My client has no previous convictions for criminal damage.
“This all happened on Christmas Day.
He had lunch with his family and was drinking, then went to visit his uncle and drank an astonishing amount of alcohol.
“Between them, they had six two-litre bottles of whiskey. My client believes he had three of these.
“He has no recollection of what happened. He went outside and vented his temper on a number of vehicles in a spree.
“He clearly has to pay compensation but is on Jobseeker’s Allowance. He has issues with alcohol, he binge drinks but hasn’t drank since the incident.” “He is now mature enough to comply with a community order.”
Magistrates told Pesta: “This was unpleasant, unnecessary and on Christmas Day.
“You caused considerable damage and upset three people. You brought about your actions yourself.”
Pesta was given a 12-month community order, with a supervision requirement, and was ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work.
He will also pay £750 compensation and £85 court costs.
