Last chance for repeat offender — judge

A MAN who scratched swastikas on a woman’s car has been before the court every year of his adult life, a court heard.

Juthro Uriah Budweiser (30) was in Corstorphine on May 21 when he saw the vehicle parked outside a house.

He took out a key and etched the Nazi emblems on the back of the car, the driver’s door and the passenger’s side.

The victim had been so embarrassed, she was off the road for some time, the Dunedin District Court heard last week.

‘‘He had a previous runin with owner of the vehicle, saw it and describes it as ‘seeing red’,’’ counsel Debbie Ericsson said.

The wanton outburst was no oneoff.

Less than a fortnight later, Budweiser had been before the Tenancy Tribunal and was evicted from his home for failing to pay rent.

He reacted by going back to the Corstorphine property and punching two windows, causing them to shatter.

Ms Ericsson said Budweiser described his life as ‘‘going pearshaped’’ and was aware he needed to address his anger problem.

She told the court her client had recently been diagnosed as having a potentially debilitating heart defect and was on a sickness benefit.

Judge Kevin Phillips said it was more of the same from Budweiser who he noted had appeared in court every year since 2003.

‘‘You seem to have a mindset that when you lose control . . . you act in a violent manner, breaching court orders, making threats to kill, committing acts of violence or repeatedly dam aging people’s property,’’ he said.

Budweiser had breached communitybased sentences in the past and could not proffer an address for an electronicallymonitored sentence.

‘‘Prison would be entirely justified,’’ Judge Phillips said.

But he was willing to give the defendant another chance.

Budweiser was sentenced to 240 hours’ community work, nine months’ supervision and ordered to pay $300 reparation.

‘‘If you breach [the sentence] at any time, you’ll go to prison,’’ the judge said.