‘Bad mood’ incites pair on rampage in Pahiatua

Despite leaving a clear trail of destruction of smashed windows and bottles, a young man on an angry late-night rampage says the evening was a blur to him.

‘‘I can’t remember, I was pissed,’’ Dylan Peter Peck told Dannevirke District Court yesterday, while representing himself on two wilful damage charges.

That didn’t impress Judge Geoff Rea, who didn’t like his attitude.

‘‘Being smart won’t help you,’’ Judge Rea said.

The police summary said that on December 27, Peck, 18, unemployed, and a friend were drinking.

The pair were in ‘‘ a bad mood’’ after arguing with an associate, so, about 11pm, went on ‘‘an angry rampage’’ through Pahiatua.

The pair threw bricks and rocks toward shop windows in Main St, before they smashed three windows in a storage unit in a building protected by the Historic Places Trust.

They then smashed a window in the public library and two in the town hall before throwing bottles toward Kiwi St.

‘‘On police arrival in Kiwi St, glass was found strewn across the road,’’ the summary said. Peck ran from the scene but was later found at his house.

‘‘I’m sorry for what I’ve done and yeah,’’ he said yesterday.

Peck hadn’t had a job for three years and filled in his time helping his ‘‘old man’’, he said.

After saying he had ‘‘no idea’’ how he could pay for the damage, Judge Rea threatened to send Peck to the cells.

‘‘You stand there as an arrogant young man who thinks the world owes him a living. It doesn’t,’’ the judge said.

Peck was ordered to do 125 hours’ community work and to pay $1036 reparation.