Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Man smashed up ex’s windscreen
A SPURNED boyfriend who followed his ex-partner then smashed his car’s windscreen with a wiper blade has been tagged for four months.
Steven Wrycza couldn’t accept his break-up with partner Scott Mollison — so began bombarding him with texts, voicemails, emails and Facebook messages over the course of more than three months last year.
On October 24 he spotted Mr Mollison driving in Dundee and turned his car into the path of his ex’s.
Wrycza then followed Mr Mollison, tailgating him as they went, while repeatedly beeping his horn.
He then got out and repeatedly shouted and swore at Mr Mollison while banging on his car window.
A few weeks later, on December 8, Wrycza approached Mr Mollison and stood in the path of his car before breaking off one of the wing mirrors and windscreen wipers.
Wrycza then smashed the windscreen of the car using a broken wiper blade. The 25-year-old ended up spending nearly two months behind bars over the charges after failing to turn up in court in November to face the allegations.
Wrycza, of Dudhope Court, pleaded guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner between October 24 and December 8 last year at various addresses in Dundee, breaching the Communications Act, and failing to appear in court.
Defence solicitor Anika Jethwa said: “He has spent 56 days in custody and he has had a long period to think about his behaviour.
“He clearly has had a number of difficulties in the past.”
Sheriff Alastair Brown imposed a restriction of liberty order confining Wrycza to his home from 7pm-7am every day on an electronic tag for four months.
He said: “This started as behaviour in the scope of domestic abuse because it involved a partner or ex-partner.
“The court will always take domestic abuse of any description very seriously.
“Any partner has the right to be protected and the public has a very real interest in the suppression of offences on domestic partners.
“As you have discovered, where you compound it by committing more than one offence then failing to turn up at court, you stand a good chance of going to jail.”