A TEENAGER has been ordered to stay at home during the evening and early morning hours after he breached a court order handed down for smashing shop windows in Newtown and causing more than £7,500 of damage.
Jake Townsend was caught on CCTV throwing stones and smashing windows at the town’s Argos store and new riverside community venue Hafan yr Afon during two separate incidents last October and November.
On November 29 last year, the 18-year-old was ordered to comply with a 12-month community order which included 120 hours of unpaid work and 25 rehabilitation days – but Welshpool Magistrates’ Court heard last week that he has breached this order on multiple occasions.
Townsend, of Lon Derw, Newtown, admitted failing to attend unpaid work appointments on three occasions – all in January this year – when he appeared last Tuesday, February 21.
Probation officer Julian Davies said: “He failed to attend the unpaid work on three occasions and has failed to provide any acceptable information for those absences.
“He has engaged well with the office appointments but there have been issues with the unpaid work. He has completed five-and-three-quarter hours so far."
Rob Hanratty, acting for the teen, said: “He has a social phobia, he finds it very upsetting to work in a group setting.
“He gets very intimidated when in a group of people. I have explored if he can work in a one-to-one setting. He is a young man who has a multitude of problems.”
Magistrates told Townsend they would impose an additional 28-day curfew, meaning he must remain at his home address between the hours of 7pm and 7am for seven days a week. They also ordered him to pay £60 costs.
The court heard previously that at around 10.30am on October 27 last year, Hafan yr Afon manager Mollie George went to ask Townsend what had happened after she heard a thud coming from one of the ground floor windows – he told her to “f*** off” and she was left anxious and jumpy.
Two further thuds were heard coming from the conference room on the second floor and Ms George saw that the glass window had been broken.
CCTV footage showed Townsend throwing an object at the ground floor window then another object at the top window, causing more than £3,400 of damage.
The following day, Argos manager Gareth Jones noticed there were deep scratches along sections of one of the shop front windows in Back Lane.
Five days later he was arrested by police and admitted causing the damage. He then threw five stones at the Argos windows at around 1.20am on November 6 – in total the damage caused was more than £4,200.
Townsend was told to pay £550 to Argos and £300 to Hafan yr Afon.
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