A vandal has been jailed after he threatened a Casino worker with a knife because the slot machines ‘lied to him’ during an unsuccessful afternoon of gambling.
Constantin Lupo used a bar stool to smash five of the appliances in a fit of rage and assaulted the staff member with a lock knife in June last year.
The thug caused the unlucky man to suffer multiple injuries, including cuts to his head, arms and legs at Cockhedge Shopping Centre in Warrington.
A court was told Lupo, of Frederick Street, Widnes, inflicted £8,734-worth of damage – though he denied the charge.
His encounter with the staff member came after he had attempted to intervene.
Eventually Lupo’s lock knife was prised from him, as colleagues and members of the public restrained the vandal until police arrived.
Denying the charges of criminal damage, Lupo insisted he got angry at the slot machines, which had been ‘lying’ to him. He said the person who intervened tried to stop him from leaving, so he pushed him to the ground. He denied causing the injuries with the lock knife.
Lupo was jailed for eight months after being found guilty of criminal damage; inflicting grievous bodily harm; and the possession of a bladed article in public following a four-day trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
Following the conclusion of the case, Detective Constable Stephan Wolstenholme said: ‘Even in the light of Constantin Lupo maintaining his innocence and forcing the victim to relive the incident in court all over again, I do hope [the] result offers some reassurance to the victim involved in this unjustified and violent ordeal.
‘This could have been a potentially life-threatening situation for the member of staff who had, rightfully, challenged Lupo, who could not handle the result of his afternoon of gambling and caused a substantial amount of damage to several machines he had been using.
‘The victim was simply doing all they could to stop Lupo’s rampage and did not deserve to be violently attacked.
‘Cheshire Police treats every report of assault with the utmost seriousness, and our officers will do everything they can to get victims the justice they deserve.’
