Grieving woman smashed up car with rock - and urinated in street

A woman has been banned from entering a Sunderland street for a year after smashing up a stranger’s car with a rock on the day her sister died.
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Marie Clark, 57, has been ordered by a court to stay out of Ridley Street, Southwick, the scene of her unprovoked attack on Saturday, April 11.

Clark, of Churchill Avenue, also Southwick, picked up a rock from the victim’s garden.

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She then used it to inflict £800 of damage to his Chrysler motor, which was parked outside his home.

South Tyneside Magistrates' CourtSouth Tyneside Magistrates' Court
South Tyneside Magistrates' Court

Clark bashed the windscreen to the point of it shattering and damaged the driver’s door and bonnet.

Magistrates in South Tyneside heard CCTV captured the attack, and also caught her urinating nearby.

As well as the street ban, jobless Clark was told she must pay the car owner £800 compensation.

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Prosecutor Oriana Frame said: “The victim had taken his family to South Shields and had returned to Ridley Street.

“There was no damage to the car, but at 8.20am the next day, he was told by a neighbour that his car had been damaged.

“The front windscreen was smashed and would have shattered if touched, and there were scratches to windows and damage to the bonnet.

“He had CCTV, which he checked and the defendant was seen to pick up a rock from his garden and cause repeated damage to his vehicle.

“It also captured her urinating in the street.”

In a victim personal statement made immediately after the attack and read to the court, the car owner said: “The incident means that I can no longer use my vehicle until it is repaired.

“This affects me because my son has autism and he likes his routine.”

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Annalisa Moscardini, defending, said: “Ms Clark has been out of trouble for a little while.

“Her sister had been in hospital for a while and had died that day. She was grief-stricken.

“She doesn’t remember the incident. She is very remorseful.”

Scott pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage and urinating in public at an earlier hearing, at which the court heard she had “drunk a lot”.

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As well as the Ridley Street exclusion order, she was given a 12 community order in which she must complete 15 days of rehabilitation work with the Probation Service.

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