A serial burglar and thief from Marley Patts broke into a home in Sunderland with a can of foster’s lager in his hand and hit its owner with a hammer.
Kevin Sandilands, who has an extensive history of 132 criminal convictions, broke into a home somewhere in the city in September last year and ended up ripping the door off its hinges.
Naturally, the violent and loud nature of such a break in alerted the homeowner, who immediately sought to resist him.
Sandilands subsequently decided to strike the home owner over the head twice with a hammer.
But the homeowner, while hurt, was not defeated, and quickly struck him back using a pool cue.
Kevin then retreated, declaring he had in fact “broke into the wrong house”, before spilling lager on the floor and departing.
However, he had already snatched a wallet containing £120 from inside. He was later arrested for burglary and assault.
Nicoleta Alistari, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court: “The homeowner saw his front door was smashed in and the door was hanging off its hinges. He saw a man standing in the corridor leading to the front door, which was Mr Sandilands.
“The complainant didn’t know him and asked who he was. He noticed he had a claw hammer, which the defendant used to strike him to the head twice, using a lot of force and causing his head to bleed.
“The complainant hit him back with a pool cue causing him to fall to the ground. The defendant shouted ‘wrong address’ then threatened to hit his kneecaps before getting up and leaving.”
The victim noticed Sandilands had Foster’s lager with him, which he had spilled on the floor. He threw the cans outside and told the raider to get out.
In a statement about the impact of the offence, the victim said: “I was assaulted in my home in the early hours of the morning. I was asleep when I heard a loud bang.
“One of them struck me hard to the head with a claw hammer, leaving a cut to my head and causing significant pain.”
He added: “I left South Africa 22 years ago to live in a country with less violence, only to be assaulted by a trespasser in my own home. I previously felt secure in my own house and this has shattered that illusion.
“I’m frightened someone will attack me again. I’m aware one of the men (not Sandilands) is well-connected and his family are ruthless and I’m frightened there will be repercussions.”
Sandilands, of no fixed address but of Marley Potts, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was jailed for ten months for that and was also in breach of a 15 month suspended prison sentence imposed last July, which was imposed after he stole a Pizza Delivery car from a local takeaway and crashed it into the railings of St. Peter’s Church.
In breach of that sentence, he was thus locked up for a total of 25 months. He was also given a restraining order.