A man armed with a metal pole went on a rampage in a car park, smashing windscreens in a revenge attack. Eric Mwangi, 35, carried out the crime spree earlier this year and was due to be released from prison on Wednesday, June 24, after being sentenced to three months.
Details of the Attack
Prosecuting, Amy Weir said Mwangi struck at a car park on Pomona Strand in Trafford at around 11.45pm on March 2. Windscreens were smashed with a metal bar, causing nearly £4,000 worth of damage. Mwangi pleaded guilty to 15 counts of criminal damage. The court heard he has 11 previous convictions covering 28 offences, including other offences of criminal damage.
“This appears to be a revenge attack of sorts,” Ms Weir said. Defending, Samrat Sengupta described the incident as a “frustrated rampage” and said the defendant was experiencing mental health issues and homelessness at the time.
Sentencing and Judge’s Remarks
Sentencing, Judge Jason MacAdam said he intended to pass a sentence that would mean Mwangi would be released with no more time to serve. The judge said a pre-sentence report concluded that Mwangi was “not manageable in the community” and not suitable for rehabilitation work. The maximum sentence for criminal damage was three months. Mwangi, of no fixed address, was sentenced to three months on all 15 counts, to run concurrently, for a total of three months.
Judge MacAdam said he believed that at the time Mwangi was interviewed by the probation service, he was “probably quite unwell”, but has since “stabilised”. The judge hit out at delays in the case, which he said had led to a “vulnerable defendant” with mental health issues “not being sentenced as soon as he could have been sentenced”. He demanded to be provided with a “full chronology” of the work done by the Crown Prosecution Service and the police.
