A Carlisle man who smothered his disabled ex-partner’s “lifeline” car with paint in the dead of night and left it an insurance write-off has been sentenced and branded “selfish” by a judge.
Gary Mezzoni, 43, and the woman had been in a short relationship that ended in May 2020, at her request, the city’s crown court was told.
In the early hours of June 28 last year — after he had ended an email exchange between the pair on a negative note — Mezzoni woke the startled female while rattling and banging items outside her house.
After she asked a friend to attend and investigate, it emerged Mezzoni had smeared her vehicle and brown and white gloss paint. Some of the paint was found on her living room window and front door, and more on Mezzoni’s clothing and footwear when the police later caught up with him.
He was arrested and bailed on the condition that he have no contact with her whatsoever. But on three separate dates in July, he made phone calls to her and sent emails.
The woman, who is disabled and suffers from fibromyalgia, described the impact of the car damage as “overwhelming”. It had been declared an insurance write-off, and she had to pay a £350 policy excess.
“She considered that car to be her lifeline to cope with her disability,” said prosecutor Gerard Rogerson. “She was in a relationship with Mr Mezzoni for a total of five months so was scared and concerned he displayed such obsessive behaviour.”
Mezzoni, previously of Carlisle and now of Nelson Street, Largs, Scotland, admitted criminal damage and harassment. He received a two-year community order, must complete rehabilitation, 100 hours’ unpaid work and a domestic violence course, and pay the woman £400 compensation. He was also banned from contacting her in any way for five years.
Judge Nicholas Barker told him: “You had absolutely no right or expectation — nor does any man who has been rejected in a relationship — to take revenge and retribution on a former partner.” The judge added: “You are at heart, of course, a selfish man concerned only with yourself.”
