Man pleads guilty over damage to popular beachside restaurant which left it showered in glass

A man has pleaded guilty to damaging a restaurant by headbutting a glass door and leaving the eatery so showered in glass it had remain shut the next day.

Serotonin at the Lighthouse. Pictures: Supplied.

A man has pleaded guilty to damaging a restaurant by headbutting a glass door and leaving the eatery so showered in glass it had remain shut the next day.

Peter Bramich, 47, appeared in Port Macquarie Local Court on Wednesday where he pleaded guilty to causing malicious damage to popular eatery Serotonin at the Lighthouse on Tuesday last week.

Police arrested Bramich at 8pm when they were responding to reports of his erratic behaviour, which witnesses reported had started at around 3pm that afternoon around businesses on a popular Watonga St eatery strip that overlooks Port Macquarie’s Lighthouse Beach.

When officers approached Bramich, who was sitting on the ground outside Serotonin, they observed him damaging the restaurant’s door with his head.

Police inspecting the damage. Picture: Supplied.

With the restaurant shut on Tuesdays, owner Aloka Canziani did not learn of the damage until police visited her home to inform her at around 10pm that night.

When she surveyed the damage she said it left her “rattled”.

“There was glass everywhere, one end to the other” Ms Canziani said.

She said along with the damaged door a side window had been smashed, a table had been pushed in and an outside bin kicked over.

Shattered glass was strewn across the restaurant dining room. Picture: Supplied.

The popular pizzeria had to remain shut on Wednesday night to allow for a painstaking clean-up of all the debris.

Ms Canziani said not being able to open on Wednesday, which is normally an open mic night where local music acts entertain patrons, had likely deprived the restaurant of $2500 in takings even before repair costs were tallied up.

“As a small business I can’t afford that right now,” she said.

In court on Wednesday Bramich was sentenced, but no conviction was recorded.

Originally published as Man pleads guilty over damage to popular beachside restaurant which left it showered in glass