Car mirror-smasher given something to reflect on

A man's penchant for venting his frustrations on parked vehicles has landed him in jail after he pleaded guilty to punching and damaging a car outside government offices in Floriana – his second conviction for doing so in less than a year.

26 year old Beyene Fessahatsion Weldeabzghi, from Eritrea, was jailed for 5 months this morning, after he pleaded guilty to causing damage to a Volkswagen Golf that happened to be parked outside a building in Triq Francesco Buonamici, from which several government departments operate.

Inspector Priscilla Caruana Lee told the court, presided by magistrate Ian Farrugia, that Weldeabzghi had been so frustrated by his experience at one of the departments that he had punched the car's wing mirror, shattering it. He is understood to have been stopped by a bystander, before being arrested by the police.

Weldeabzghi pleaded guilty to criminal damage and relapsing.

The court noted that he had been convicted of damaging two parked cars and a motorcycle because he had been upset about being rejected by a prostitute in July last year. On that occasion, Weldeabzghi had been fined and placed on probation.

“I am seeing your conviction sheet, you are repeating the same offences,” observed magistrate Farrugia this morning. “You were given a chance but you do not seem to have understood what that chance meant. The law must be observed.”

Weldeabzghi was sentenced to imprisonment for five months. The court ordered that a copy of the judgment be delivered to the Director of Probation and Parole.

Lawyer Christopher Chircop assisted the accused as legal aid. Lawyer Maroushka Debono appeared as parte civile for the owner of the car.