Car owner killed vandal caught damaging wing-mirror

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-52398194

Version 0 of 1.

A car owner who fatally injured a vandal caught damaging his wing-mirror has been given a suspended sentence.

Nicolae Budurus, 40, was disturbed by heavily intoxicated Audrius Lapinskas outside his home in Peterborough.

During a confrontation, he punched Mr Lapinskas, 30, causing a traumatic head injury, Cambridge Crown Court heard.

Budurus, of Lincoln Road, admitted manslaughter and was given a 16-month suspended prison term.

The court heard he had been preparing to go to sleep on 5 January when he was "disturbed by the victim's behaviour outside on the street".

Judge David Farrell QC, sentencing, said Budurus "got out of bed and went outside".

"This was not the first time your car had been vandalised outside your property," he said.

He accepted that Budurus, falsely believing Mr Lapinskas had a weapon, punched him at least four times before he collapsed.

'Clear remorse'

A post-mortem examination found the victim - who was about two-and-a-half times over the drink-drive limit - died from a traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage.

The court heard this was an injury typical of a punch to someone highly intoxicated.

Judge Farrell said it was an "unusual and an unforeseeable consequence" of the blows and Budurus had not intended to cause serious harm.

The judge said Budurus had expressed "clear remorse from an early stage", giving a "broadly truthful" account to police in interview.

He said Mr Lapinskas was "very drunk and seeking gratuitously to damage your car" and that Budurus had spent nearly four months on remand.

In suspending his sentence, the judge said it was "undoubtedly a case where there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation".

An original charge of murder was dropped by prosecutors.

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk