Ballymena man smashed up ex-partner’s rented home

Details emerged as Lewis Boyd (33), with an address listed on the charge sheet as Shanlieve, was sentenced at Antrim Magistrates Court, sitting in Ballymena, on charges of causing criminal damage to a house in December last year when he also had a spanner as an offensive weapon and assaulted a man.

A prosecutor said a man was confronted by his daughter’s ex-partner who had a spanner, “15 inches long”, in a driveway and had attempted to gain entry to a house. The man told Boyd his daughter “no longer wished to see him” and Boyd raised the spanner to shoulder height and said: “I am going to f**king kill you”. Boyd was arrested at an address which he and his ex-partner had previously shared and a spanner was located, a prosecutor said. “Substantial damage” had been caused to the property and it emerged the defendant had broken a toilet and sink which cause “substantial water damage” to the property. The court was told there was no estimated cost for the damage but the upstairs toilet was damaged and the wash hand basin almost removed from a wall. Tiles were cracked on the floor and the shower door was hanging off whilst water had got through the ceiling to the kitchen causing flooding. Carpet on a landing was destroyed and a wooden banister was broken. Defence barrister Neil Moore said there was a “very positive Probation report”. Mr Moore said the defendant had “difficulties” with the end of the relationship of over 15 years. He said Boyd works in Dublin and at the time of the offences last December he was doing long hours away from home and had been misusing alcohol when he came back at the weekends. The lawyer said the defendant accepts his response to the ending of the relationship was “completely inappropriate”. The barrister said the assault on the ex-partner’s father was an “apprehension” assault with no physical contact “but undoubtedly it would have been frightening and disturbing.” The lawyer said Boyd regretted the incidents. Mr Moore believed the damage was covered by insurance. District Judge Nigel Broderick said he wanted to hear a figure for damage or for an insurance excess to be brought back to court. He put Boyd on Probation for a year with conditions, one of which is not forming “intimate relationships” without informing his Probation Officer. The judge told him: “This is a serious case, not least of which because of the significant damage you caused to the house. Imagine if you owned that house and one of your tenants came back and smashed it up, you wouldnt feel too happy about it”. The defendant was also made the subject of a two year Restraining Order regarding his ex-partner and her father.