‘Overwhelmed with anger’ by a badly parked vehicle

‘PERSONALITY DISORDER’ CAUSED MAN TO SCRATCH CAR WITH KEY

A MAN used a key to scratch what he considered to be a badly parked car because he has a personality disorder which causes him to lose his temper when confronted by daily annoyances, a court heard.

Brentley Frisby damaged the Volvo XC60 in the car park at Asda, in Oadby, because he thought it was straddling two spaces.

Frisby, of Hall Croft, Shepshed, appeared at Leicester Magistrates’ Court to admit a charge of criminal damage.

The court heard the 27-year-old is “triggered” by some acts - including what he perceives to be poor parking.

Prosecutor Sally Bedford told the court the car’s owner was working at the shop on Thursday, April 30.

She said: “He finished work and went back to the vehicle and found a large scratch across the boot.”

It cost more than £500 to repair the damage and left the victim “out of pocket and angry”, Ms Bedford said.

“He also felt threatened as he did not know if the person who had done this was waiting for him.”

Police looked at CCTV and matched footage of Frisby in the car park and him paying inside the shop.

This meant officers were able to trace him through his bank and he was arrested and interviewed.

He told police he had been walking through the car park when he saw the vehicle parked across two bays. This had annoyed him, so he used his key to scratch it, he said.

His solicitor Paul Tubb told the court Frisby had lost control because he has a personality disorder which means he cannot control his actions when confronted by certain triggers.

Mr Tubb said: “There are some traits the people who have this condition have no control over, including acting impulsively and having immense feelings of anger which are difficult to control.

“This defendant described in his interview seeing a car straddling two lines in the car park.

“This is unfortunately one of the things which is a trigger for him - others are people littering, spitting or using racist language. They make him see red and being overwhelmed with a feeling he can’t control.

“There is no treatment. He has been on a waiting list for some kind of help with this condition for nine years now.

“He has seen bad parking in this Asda car park before and on this day he felt overwhelmed by anger which caused him to damage this car.

“Initially, the police’s opinion was that this should not go through the court if he would pay for the damage up front.

“He could not and offered to pay in instalments, but this payment plan was declined.

“If he’d been able to pay, he would not have needed to be in court.”

Magistrates fined him £80 for the offence and ordered him to pay compensation of £514 to the victim to cover the repair bill.