In a vindictive act that cost his victim more than £28,000 in repairs, a vengeful drunk driver who crashed a JCB excavator into the house of his brother’s former girlfriend was spared prison.
Following a family fight, Mark Holmes, 56, of Penybryn in Caerphilly was seen on video repeatedly ramming the large equipment into the home owned by a horrified Paula Brown.
After snatching the digger from his son, Holmes said he “totally lost self-control” and went on a spree that involved smashing Ms. Brown’s house in Blackwood, South Wales, as well as two automobiles that were parked outside.
After confessing to aggravated car theft, property damage, hazardous driving, and drunk driving, he was spared an immediate jail term in court and given a three-year driving restriction.
Miss Brown was in a state of shock as she saw Holmes maneuver the stolen JCB digger up the street and into her home.
The home in Blackwood, South Wales, sustained damage of up to £28,000, according to prosecutor James Evans, as Holmes repeatedly crashed into it.
When Holmes slammed into the woman’s silver Ford Focus and blue Ford Fiesta, she was sitting in her house with her kid, horrified, and the event was seen on video by workers nearby.
Paula Brown is the ex-girlfriend of the defendant’s brother, and according to Mr. Evans, Mrs. Brown and the defendant had a troubled relationship.
“Mrs. Brown was sitting with her son in the front room of her house at 1 o’clock. She saw the JCB truck drive onto her street. It crashed into her Ford Focus outside of her living room, she saw.
There were repeated efforts to do damage with the JCB, Mr. Evans said. He did it frequently.
The digger backed up, lurched toward the home, flipped over a Ford Focus, and slammed into the porch as neighbors watched in horror.
Mrs. Brown was struck by the digger after leaving her house, according to testimony presented at Newport Crown Court. Her leg was bruised.
She saw that the defendant was operating the car, according to Mr. Evans. She was struck by the vehicle’s digger arm when it was lifted by the driver.
‘It resulted in very minor injuries and destroyed the boots she was wearing.
He proceeded to slam the Ford Fiesta into her house as he drove near her. He departed after learning that the event was being recorded.
The court then heard how Holmes borrowed his son’s JCB and then went to the Blackwood Police Station before admitting that he had been drinking and driving.
Mrs. Brown, who has yet to go home after the event, said in a victim personal statement that she finds it difficult to sleep as a result of her horrific experience.
She said that she and her kid were in fear for their lives. I believed he was going to murder me.
Holmes, of Penybryn, Caerphilly, entered a guilty plea to aggravated car theft, property damage, reckless driving, and driving while intoxicated.
He acknowledged the lesser charge of violence but denied assault causing real bodily injury.
“It appears to be a culmination of family difficulties, misunderstandings, and arguments that have come to a climax,” Marion Lewis’ defense argued.
He has carried these weights. obligations associated with his brother’s relationship, the care of his wife, and the upbringing of his children.
“He totally lost his self control and for that he is really sorry,” the statement reads.
Holmes received a 16-month sentence with a two-year sentence suspension from Judge Duncan Bould.
“Whatever resentments you may have had or defenses you may have offered to yourself in your drunken condition were in no way excuses for the behavior you perpetrated on Paula Brown and her property,” he added.
Upon sober consideration, you may now be able to understand what you did and the potential severity of the hurt you could have done to her.
The court said that the planned event had “elements of retaliation,” but added that a contrite Holmes narrowly averted arrest.
Holmes must also do 200 hours of unpaid labor and wear an alcohol abstinence monitoring tag for 120 days.
He received a ten-year restraining order as well as a three-year driving ban prior to having to pass an extended driving test.
»Drink driver evaded jail after smashing brother’s ex-house girlfriend with stolen JCB digger«