A heartless thief who robbed a family on Christmas Eve has been ordered to pay them back.
Marcin Sieracki, 34, broke into the home as the family spent Christmas with loved ones and made off with £8,000 of laptops, mobile phones, headphones, jewellery, watches and alcohol.
When his victims returned on Boxing Day they found their house ransacked, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Fiscal depute Stephanie Cardow said that at around 6pm on December 24 2021, the complainer and her family left their home in St Machar Court, Aberdeen, to visit family.
“When they left all was in order,” she said.
Only £3,200 of items recovered
“The complainer returned to the locus on Boxing Day they initially noticed nothing was out of the ordinary.
“But when the other complainer placed his keys in the lock he saw that the door was open.”
Upon opening the door, the family found their home had been disrupted, with items strewn about and drawers and cupboards that had been opened.
It was then they discovered that a number of items were no longer within the property.
Sieracki stole a MacBook Air laptop, an iPad and two mobile phones, alongside other electrical goods.
He also took a set of headphones, jewellery, watches, keys, suitcases, bank cards and alcohol.
The total value of the items taken was £8,000.
However, upon arresting Sieracki, police were able to recover around £3,200 worth of the stolen goods.
Sieracki pleaded guilty to one charge of theft.
‘Taking people’s property can often cause great difficulty’
Defence solicitor Tony Burgess told the court that at the time Sieracki had been “struggling” following the breakdown of his relationship and had turned to drink and drugs.
“He was under the influence of those substances that day,” he said.
“That’s not an excuse, but that’s the reason for what he did.
“He made no financial gain out of this – what the police caught him with was what he had.”
Mr Burgess added that he hoped a compensation order “could reflect the court’s displeasure of this behaviour”.
Sheriff Mark Stewart told Sieracki that “housebreaking is a very distressing crime for those who suffer from it”.
He added: “Taking people’s property can often cause great difficulty beyond the financial loss.
“On this occasion, there was a high financial value of the items taken and also some of the property was not recovered.
“I find it difficult to understand why you would get involved in this behaviour.”
Sheriff Stewart sentenced Sieracki, of Formartine Road, Aberdeen, to a community payback order with supervision for 18 months and made him subject to a restriction of liberty order for six months.
He also ordered Sieracki to pay the family £4,800 in compensation.
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