A former soldier who pushed two guys through a Specsavers window while inebriated has been forced to pay the company £1,000 in damages.
On Saturday August 28 last year, Androl Basil Dean, 31, was seen on CCTV committing about £6,000 worth of damage to the opticians’ window and display unit in Newton, Wales.
Dean runs up to the window and stretches his arms out to force Joshua Davies and another man through the glass, as shown on camera. Both males chose not to seek charges.
Dean ‘received the most’ and required surgery to mend tendons, while the other males suffered lacerations and minor scratches, according to Wrexham Magistrates’ Court.
Dean, who formerly served in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers’ first battalion, was also sentenced to 120 hours of unpaid labour, a £95 victim fee, and £85 in court costs. There were no other charges or actions taken.
Dean was unable to recall the encounter after consuming a large amount of alcohol, according to prosecutor Rhian Jackson.
‘He is seen heading purposefully towards Specsavers, and as he approaches the group, he puts out his arms and pushes one of the boys,’ she claimed.
‘They fall through the window and it immediately shatters. Large shards of glass fall on all the males.’
The court heard Dean waited for the police to arrive in Newtown, Powys, before he was arrested and interviewed.
Miss Jackson said: ‘He confirmed that he had been in Newtown on that night and drank a lot of alcohol but he could not remember the specific incident.
‘He said he had words with the male and tried to mediate an issue relating the male and a girl friend.
‘He fully accepts approaching the group and pushing the male and breaking the glass.’
Magistrates in Wrexham heard Dean was trying to break up a potential fight but had drunk ‘far too much’.
Defending, Craig Hutchinson said: ‘He said he probably would have intervened had he not been drinking but he doesn’t accept that he would have stumbled into the window.
‘He drinks about once a month. He is also a keen rugby player and drinks socially with teammates but not usually to excess.’
He added: ‘Unfortunately, the other individual fell through the window. It wasn’t intentional. He was more shocked regarding the actions.
‘He had been injured and had lots of stitches and needed surgery to repair tendons. He said he is genuinely remorseful for his behaviour.’
Dean, of Abermule, was ordered to pay the opticians £1,000 in compensation and complete a 12-month community order after pleading guilty to criminal damage.
Kevin McCallum, chair of the magistrates’ bench, told Dean: ‘We’ve decided that compensation is key for the company involved, which is Specsavers, and we are going to award compensation of £1,000.
‘As well as having to pay those you will have to do a community order of 12 months that will be overseen and supervised by the probation service.
‘The key part the punishing part would be unpaid work. We would have asked you to do 180 hours but because of your guilty plea we have knocked that down to 120 hours.’
He added: ‘We all hope that your injuries have not led to you stopping to play your rugby.’