A man who caused nearly £90,000 in damage and costs after he flooded a homeless unit was later found with a homemade stun gun in his pocket.
Pawel Czerwinski pulled a sprinkler from the roof at his temporary accommodation unit and set off the whole system, causing five flats to become “uninhabitable”.
The incident cost Aberdeen City Council £25,000 in repairs and more than £62,000 in lost rent.
When cops traced the 34-year old to a nearby car park and arrested him they found a homemade stun gun in his possession.
The weapon had been built by connecting the plastic handle of a window scraper to a high voltage generator.
On being charged for a contravention of the firearms act, Czerwinski told police: “I just did that as I like making electrical stuff, I didn’t use it against nobody”.
Damaged flats had ‘about three inches of water on the floor’
Fiscal depute Colin Neilson told Aberdeen Sheriff Court: “The crew manager of the fire service made his way to the third floor where he found various residents outside their flats, complaining that water was coming through the ceiling.
“He then went to the fourth floor and saw the accused standing with a towel wrapped around him – the accused then told him that number 16 was his flat.
“On entering the flat, the crew manager observed that the sprinkler within the kitchen had been pulled out of the roof, which had caused the whole system to activate.
“There were about three inches of water on the floor.”
Police then attended and traced Czerwinski to the car park adjacent to the accommodation unit.
After charging and arresting him for causing the flood, officers searched Czerwinski before putting him in the police car and found the homemade stun gun in his pocket.
He was taken to Kittybrewster Police Station and further charged with a breach of the Firearms Act 1968.
Police examined the weapon and found it was a functioning stun gun but needed to be connected to a power supply to work.
Accused was in a ‘very poor state mentally’
Defence agent Michael Horsman told the court that Czerwinski had been drinking and taking amphetamines on May 26 2019, the day of the flood.
He added: “He was in a very poor state mentally when the offence occurred.
“But he does accept that he was the cause of the sprinkler system going off.”
Mr Horsman also added that his client was “adamant” that he had never used the stun gun as a weapon.
As an alternative to a prison sentence, Sheriff Morag McLaughlin sentenced Czerwinski, of Grampian Road, Aberdeen, to an 18-month community payback order and a nine-month restriction of liberty order.
He must also carry out 180 hours of unpaid work.
