Man gets drunk, smashes car windows at 3:00am, court hears

A late-night drunken rampage in which three parked vehicles were damaged has landed a man in the dock on Tuesday.

Kailash Sharma, a 36-year-old Nepalese man, living in Birkirkara was charged with three counts of criminal damage committed on vehicles parked in Triq F.S. Caruana, Birkirkara.

Police Inspector Joseph Mallia, prosecuting, explained that at around 3:00am on Monday, the police had received a report of a drunk man damaging cars. Police officers were dispatched to the location, finding the defendant in the middle of the road. A person standing on a balcony overlooking the area told the officers that the man had been breaking windows.

Sharma was taken into custody, resisting officers in the process. He was too drunk to understand the rights being read out to him and so was taken for medical treatment, eventually ending up at Mater Dei Hospital. In the meantime, police had confirmed that he was the offender from CCTV footage and footage from the person on the balcony who had also filmed the incident.

He was arrested after sobering up, subsequently releasing a statement in which he stated that he could not remember the incident. The total cost of repairing the damage caused to the three vehicles was estimated at €970, said the inspector.

Lawyer Martha Mifsud, representing Sharma as legal aid counsel informed presiding magistrate Kevan Azzopardi that the defendant was pleading not guilty. She also requested bail, arguing that the intention behind the damage was generic and not to target the specific individuals concerned. Furthermore, the crime did not carry a serious punishment and the damage caused was under the €2,500 legal threshold.

Bail was granted, secured by a deposit of €500.