A MAN put guests at a Christmas dinner through a “terrifying” festive ordeal by smashing up a house – causing £4,000 of damage.
Zoltan Dudinszky admitted causing criminal damage to the property in Wester Ross in December last year.
He had been attending a Christmas dinner with colleagues.
But he had been drinking for two days beforehand and Tain Sheriff Court heard yesterday his rampage had been “out of character”.
Hungarian national Dudinszky, who now lives at Market Drayton in Shropshire, had previously admitted assaulting a woman by punching her on the back of the head and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner. He also admitted forcing entry to the house at Ardheslaig, Shieldaig, on December 12, and damaging windows, a door, a chair and ornaments.
The court heard yesterday that Dudinszky caused £4,192 damage to the house after forcing his way in.
He had earlier been asked to leave because of his behaviour but had then tried to get back into the house.
His agent, solicitor Patrick O’Dea, said: “This incident was completely out of character for Mr Dudinszky.
“I have now spoken to him many times and always found him to be a very calm and level-headed person in our conversations.
“However, on this occasion a number of factors appear to have combined to cause his regrettable behaviour. He had been drinking for approximately two days in the lead-up to this incident and his behaviour had been affected by the alcohol. He had left the dinner but had then attempted to get back inside because he felt it was too cold outside.
“Between the cold and the alcohol, he lost his temper.”
Dudinszky forced entry to the house by smashing his way through dining room windows.
Other party guests locked themselves in another room while Dudinszky destroyed a number of items in the dining room.
Sheriff Andrew Miller was told that a combination of labour costs and replacement parts had led to the £4,192 repair bill.
However, Mr O’Dea said that his client was unable to contribute to compensation because of his “insecure and unpredictable” employment situation.
The court heard that Dudinszky had existing debts of more than £10,000.
Sheriff Miller instead sentenced Dudinszky to 120 hours of unpaid community work and he was also placed under a nine-month supervision order.
He said: “I will accept that this was an out of character incident, but that does excuse criminal behaviour.
“I need to reflect that this was a serious incident involving violence and criminal damage at what should have been a pleasant social occasion for members of staff, including yourself, organised by your former employers.
“Due to your behaviour, it turned into a terrifying incident.”
The sheriff added that it would be “unrealistic” to impose a compensation order.
He told Dudinszky that it would be up to him to pay voluntary contributions if he wanted to contribute to compensation.