A 19-year-old man has narrowly avoided a custodial sentence after he pleaded guilty to kicking down an elderly woman's door on a drunken night out in Strabane.
Strabane Magistrate’s Court heard yesterday that Darren Dickson, Racopla Road, Omagh smashed the window of a front door and bent the frame in the Main Street area of Strabane on October 28th last year.
Dickson told the court that he had “no recoll
ection” of carrying out the criminal damage, which caused the owners’ insurance company to pay out nearly £1000 in damages.
Dickson was chased by the housekeeper after she witnessed him kicking the door and followed him before alerting police to his whereabouts.
At the time of the incident Dickson had been on a night out in the town with friends from Omagh and got separated from them.
In sentencing District Judge, Liam McNally said: “This is a very serious offence, one minute these people are sitting in their home and the next you are kicking down their door for apparently no reason other than you were drunk,” he said.
He added: “I have considered giving you an immediate custodial sentence but your guilty plea has saved you from that.”
Dickson, who was in breach of a conditional discharge for previous criminal damage, was ordered to pay £400 in compensation to the home owner and sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years. He will also have to complete 100 hours community service.
The full article contains 251 words and appears in Journal Friday DER Edition newspaper.
