Drunk waved gun demanding £5,000 in busy Southend restaurant (From Echo)
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Drunk waved gun demanding £5,000 in busy Southend restaurant
12:30pm Friday 1st March 2013 in Local News By David Trayner
Drunk waved gun demanding £5,000 in busy Southend restaurant
A DRUNK who sparked an armed police response when he waved an imitation gun in a busy restaurant demanding £5,000 has been ordered to pay £1,000.
Petrit Bala, 39, of Lancaster Gardens, Southend, was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, at Basildon Crown Court yesterday after admitting assaulting the manager of restaurant Salsa in Southend, and having an imitation firearm in a public place.
Judge Jonathan Black, sentencing, said: “This was an assault on the manager of the premises, a man who needs the protection of the courts.
“It is all too easy for people like that, who deal with drunk customers, to be assaulted.”
Trouble started when Bala, who had been drinking in the London Road restaurant for more than three hours with an Albanian friend, asked for £200 cash back, despite his debit card being declined when he tried to pay the bill.
Manager Jose Coelho said Bala, a regular customer, could pay the next day but the father-of-four struck him in the face and chased him into the kitchen.
Peter Gair,prosecuting, said: “It resulted in pain to Mr Coelho’s cheek.
“He managed to get into the kitchen area. The defendant followed him in there, reached into his coat pocket and pulled out an imitation firearm, saying something like: ‘You owe me £5,000.’”
Mr Coelho escaped and called the police, who sent an armed response unit.
But when the officers trained their weapons on Bala, believing the gun may be real, he responded: “I don’t care. Shoot me.”
The father-of-four held his head in his hands as the court was shown CCTV footage of him waving the fake gun and assaulting Mr Coelho.
His counsel explained Bala, who was separating from his wife of seven years and struggling with gambling debts at the time, rarely drank and remembered none of the incident.
He had confiscated the toy gun from his five-year-old son at the restaurant that afternoon.
John Warrington, mitigating, said: “This offending is very much out of character for this individual and it was crystallised by drink.”
Bala, who pleaded guilty to assault and having an imitation firearm in a public place, was ordered to pay £900 costs and £100 compensation to Mr Coelho.
Comments(13)
Ian P
says...
12:42pm Fri 1 Mar 13
Soouthchurch59
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12:47pm Fri 1 Mar 13
The judge fell for a plausible, but, in my opinion - see-through mitigation yarn!
leighman
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12:50pm Fri 1 Mar 13
supermadmax
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12:58pm Fri 1 Mar 13
Bit of a storm in a tea cup really, drunken regular, toy gun, no harm done.
Although Im very surprised the judge let him off so easy.
Having a fire arm is an automatic 5 years & another judge on another day could have been a lot harsher. Although the police only charged him with "assault and having an imitation firearm", if they have thrown in armed robbery or other charges, which he appears to be guilty of it would most likely have been a very different sentence.
Lucky man.
Dan_
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1:30pm Fri 1 Mar 13
Nebs
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2:40pm Fri 1 Mar 13
JuliaM
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2:58pm Fri 1 Mar 13
It's long past due that 'being drunk' ceased to be a mitigation and became an aggravating factor attracting a stiffer penalty.
firedog
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4:38pm Fri 1 Mar 13
JuliaM wrote:Well said.
John Warrington, mitigating, said: “This offending is very much out of character for this individual and it was crystallised by drink.”
It's long past due that 'being drunk' ceased to be a mitigation and became an aggravating factor attracting a stiffer penalty.
Cosmo Spring
says...
6:55pm Fri 1 Mar 13
firedog wrote:I agree
JuliaM wrote:Well said.
John Warrington, mitigating, said: “This offending is very much out of character for this individual and it was crystallised by drink.”
It's long past due that 'being drunk' ceased to be a mitigation and became an aggravating factor attracting a stiffer penalty.
asbo in a coma
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9:43pm Fri 1 Mar 13
perini
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10:07pm Sun 3 Mar 13
Nebs wrote:We finally agree!
Judges should be elected.
perini
says...
10:08pm Sun 3 Mar 13
Nebs wrote:We finally agree!
Judges should be elected.
Carnabackable says...
12:34pm Fri 1 Mar 13