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A 62-year-old man has been jailed after pouring paint onto the floor of a medical clinic in a “political protest” against doctors who declined to prescribe him opiates to deal with his addiction, but he inadvertently carried it out at an unconnected premises.
Richard Mark Swirlll pleaded guilty to criminal damage, on 1 July at Pura Health on the North Esplanade.
Crown Advocate Fiona Russell told the Magistrate’s Court that Swirlll had entered the shop with a plastic bottle of paint and told two workers inside words to the effect of: “Chaps, I'm going to ruin your day”.
He then poured paint over the carpet and a struggle began between the three individuals, with Swirlll said to knock a computer monitor off a desk during the period.
Swirlll told the pair that he was there to “make a political protest” against doctors who had declined to prescribe him opiates, to which they replied that they had nothing to do with the business.
He stated he didn’t care and reiterated it was a “political statement” which he hoped would gain media coverage.
Pictured: Swirlll was sent to Les Nicolles Prison.
During interview Swirlll agreed with the sequence of events, admitted his guilt and stated he had consumed four cans of lager that day.
Advocate Amy Davies, defending, said her client had been continually “blighted by illegal drug use” and sincerely believed the medication was necessary to treat his addiction to opiates.
She added that he had been “motivated by frustration”, feeling that he had been treated differently by not being prescribed the drugs. However, he had since come to understand why the doctors decided against it and expressed remorse to the shop workers for his actions.
Judge Gary Perry, sentencing, said he couldn't ignore Swirlll’s extensive list of previous convictions which he noted stretched back to 1980.
“You are a ticking time bomb in our community and when you go off there’s always collateral damage,” he told the defendant in the dock.
“As it turns out on this occasion you've got totally the wrong people for your unjustified protest.”
Judge Perry sent Swirlll to Les Nicolles for four months from 29 August.
A valuation of the damage wasn’t provided to the court.
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