Man smashed up car with a hammer in retaliation for being muted in a group call
A man used a hammer to smash all the windows in a friend's car after being "muted" in a "group phone call", a court has heard.
Sean Norris, 24, of Colinbrook Drive in Poleglass to the south-west of Belfast, admitted charges of having a hammer as an offensive weapon in Antrim town and causing criminal damage to vehicle windows on Tuesday June 25 last year.
Antrim Magistrates' Court, sitting in Ballymena, was told on Tuesday that the attack took place around 7.30am and that all the windows in the car were smashed.
The prosecutor said the previous day the defendant and the vehicle owner, who were "friends," had been part of a "group phone call" and the man had "muted" the defendant on the call.
The prosecutor said the man believed that was what "caused the annoyance".
The court heard at the time of the hammer attack the defendant, who had a previously clear record, had recently been charged with causing unnecessary suffering to animals after he had claimed to have deliberately driven a car over a pup and had also claimed to have slapped and kicked another dog on another occasion.
A previous court head a psychiatric report showed the defendant had "exaggerated" the Collie dog incident and the dog was found alive.
Charges regarding the dogs were withdrawn by prosecutors.
A defence barrister told the latest court sitting the defendant had been "acting irrationally" as a result of mental health issues.
A defence barrister said there had been a "public outcry" in respect of the dog allegations and then the defendant had been the "victim of online abuse".
District Judge Nigel Broderick said the hammer attacked seemed a "very extreme reaction" to being muted on a group call.
The lawyer said the defendant's mental health meant he "lashed out" and Norris had driven from Poleglass to Antrim to carry out the hammer attack.
For the hammer attack the defendant was put on probation for a year.