A Whitehaven man who armed himself with a hammer and smashed his neighbour’s windows while drunk has been ordered by a judge to wear an alcohol abstinence tag for 100 days.
Carlisle Crown Court heard today how ongoing issues with a fellow resident of Valley View Road led Gary Reynolds Bitcon, 38, to cause damage late on Sunday, November 22.
During the late afternoon, Bitcon became upset as he talked briefly outside with the female neighbour and her male friend.
Bitcon and the woman then returned to their respective homes. But just before midnight, the woman heard a smashing noise, ran to the kitchen and saw two large window panes had been broken by Bitcon using a hammer.
Outside, the woman stepped in as her friend and Bitcon scuffled. “The defendant then took a swing at her with the hammer,” said prosecutor Daniel Bramhall.
That tool was later recovered from the scene by police, who arrested Bitcon.
He later admitted a charge of affray, insisting no violence was used towards the pair. The court heard of Bitcon’s issues with alcohol, and of him drinking up to 20 cans of lager during a weekend.
A 10-month jail term was suspended for two years. Bitcon must complete rehabilitation, a two-month nighttime curfew and a 100-day alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement.
This will see him fitted with a device that can detect alcohol consumption in the wearer’s sweat. Judge Nicholas Barker said to Bitcon of his offence: “I have absolutely no doubt that from 4pm until 11pm when you attended at her home, you were drinking heavily. In that time you built yourself up into something of an angered state and so you did something, which was to arm yourself with a hammer and go to their address.”
It had been, said Judge Barker, “a shocking incident”.
