Warwick man pays price for destructive drunken rampage across town

The 22yo was slammed in court for the ‘fear and anxiety’ he caused residents on a quiet street when he began smashing windows, shouting, and threw a wheelie bin at a car.

IN COURT: The Warwick man pleaded guilty to six offences after a destructive drunken rampage through a quiet residential street. Picture: matt_benoit / iStock

A Warwick man left a path of destruction through a quiet street on a late-night drunken rampage, smashing the windows of a house with a broom and hurling a wheelie bin at a car windscreen.

Police were called to a disturbance on Palmer Avenue just before midnight on June 19 where they found Tristyn Phillip Leech kicking bins over, leaving rubbish strewn across the road.

The Warwick Magistrates Court heard the 22-year-old “seemed very intoxicated” and shouted at officers as they approached.

Police prosecutor Steve de Lissa said officers discovered the Warwick man had used a broom to smash four windows on a house before targeting a car parked on the street.

“(Leech) has picked up a council wheelie bin and thrown it at the windscreen of the car, smashing the windscreen,” Sergeant de Lissa said.

Leech’s final strike was at a nearby caravan park, where he entered the premises and smashed another window.

Sergeant de Lissa said the man was taken to his mother’s house by police and later interviewed at the station, where he claimed the outburst was completely out of character and could offer no explanation.

No quotes for the property damages were submitted to the court, but Leech expressed his willingness to pay restitution.

He also appeared in court with a clean criminal history.

Defence lawyer Amber Acreman said her client was “grossly intoxicated” that night and had no independent memory of the rampage, but was remorseful for his actions.

“He’d been at a 21st birthday party and consumed a lot of liquor, (and) things weren’t going so well for him at that time,” Ms Acreman said.

“He’s stopped drinking all together as a result of this incident and made an appointment to see his GP to get some advice on how, going forwards, he can avoid this occurring.”

Magistrate Julian Noud chastised the Warwick man for the stress and “great annoyance” he’d likely caused to many of the residents on Palmer Avenue that night.

“It would create fear and anxiety in members of the community who would be, one assumes, in the safety of their homes to hear you carry on in the way you have done,” Mr Noud said.

Leech pleaded guilty to three counts of wilful damage, two counts of trespass, and one count of committing a public nuisance.

He was fined $650 and no conviction was recorded.

Originally published as Warwick man pays price for destructive drunken rampage across town