Louth man sentenced after smashing door to get into flat

A Louth man smashed out a door panel to get into a flat he thought his girlfriend was in, a court has been told.
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David Rice, 37, of Welbeck Way, admitted using violence to enter a property knowing a person was on the premises who was opposed to his entry, when he appeared at Boston Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday October 19.

Dan Pietryka, prosecuting, said the owner of a flat in Aswell Street in Louth was woken up by loud banging on his front door at around 5.15am on June 5 and because it continued and he was concerned, he called the police.

They found that part of the door had been kicked in and Rice had gained access.

He told police later that he had been looking for his girlfriend, but had left when he discovered she was not there.

He told officers that his girlfriend used to ‘be with’ the owner of the flat and he’d gone to the flat on a couple of previous occasions as he believed she was there.

He said he realised it was ‘not the right thing to do’ but he said he had poor thinking skills which he blamed on a brain injury.

Mitigating, Helen Coney said Rice did have a brain injury from a serious assault in 2004 and he now had to have a carer and an appointee to look after his financial affairs.

“He doesn’t have the thinking skills as others do,” she told the magistrates.

The magistrates imposed a 12 month conditional discharge and ordered Rice to pay £50 costs and £50 in compensation for the damaged door.

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