A 'bit of a row' erupted at an 18th birthday party when three uninvited people refused to leave, Craigavon court hears
A 42-year-old plasterer, who smashed the car window of a man who arrived uninvited with two other friends to his son’s 18th birthday party, believed the repair quote was ‘inflated’, a court has heard.
Stephen Toye, aged 42, from Crowhill Road, Waringstown, appeared before Craigavon Magistrates Court charged with criminal damage.
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The court heard that on September 22 last year, police received a report that a Seat Leon was damaged the previous evening at 11pm including damage to the rear window, when the owner was leaving an address in Donaghcloney.
The injured party claimed that while leaving the location with his friends, he had been accosted by a male described as ‘verbally aggressive, striking the vehicle with his hands’. He subsequently smashed the rear window of the car. The injured party drove off and contacted police.
A prosecutor said the injured party returned to the address and spoke with a male at the front door who identified himself as the defendant and was the man who caused the damage the previous evening.
Initially the defendant offered to pay the costs to repair the vehicle ‘quoted £200’ and had ordered a new part on behalf on the injured party. However the final cost when the work was carried out was £300 which was not honoured by the defendant.
Toye’s solicitor said it was his client’s son’s 18th birthday party and the people in this vehicle were not invited to the event.
"When they turned up uninvited there was a bit of a row. My client went to sort it out and escort them off the property asking them what they were doing at the property.
"Obviously words were exchanged and there was some alcohol on board and he regrets the action that subsequently happened,” said the solicitor adding that his client had offered to pay for the damage but there was a falling out thereafter regarding the “legitimacy” of the quote obtained.
"When my client contacted the body shop who provided the quote he was told the price had been inflated at the request of the injured party. That’s why my client hadn’t paid the figure sought,” said the solicitor, adding that his client is a plasterer who cares for his mother who is in palliative care and his daughter.
"This is an out-of-character offence for him but it was aggravated by the fact that these three guys were at the party uninvited, antagonised guests and would not leave when asked,”
District Judge Michael Ranaghan said: “It’s never a good idea to take the law into your own hands. Those people may have been uninvited to your house. You may have been doing the responsible thing initially but then you went a step very much too far which lands you here today when I am sure you do not want to be.
"I appreciate what Mr Toye says about the possible inflation of that price. I have no evidence around that," said the district judge who said he would make the compensation order of £300.
The district judge said he would reduce the fine to £200 plus the £15 offender levy ‘to taken into account the “relatively high” compensation order.