Ironworks boss is warned to get to grips with his alcohol problem

Ironworks boss is warned to get to grips with his alcohol problem

Miroslaw Czapkowski (34), of Westmount Road, admitted breaching a restraining order and a binding-over order imposed on 31 July. He was given a 12-month probation order coupled with a treatment order directed by the Alcohol and Drugs Service.

And he was warned by Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris that if he breached the orders he was likely to face a custodial sentence.

In addition, he is still subject to a two-year restraining order preventing him from making any contact with a named woman.

Mr Harris noted that a decision he made in November to remand Czapkowski in custody for a week had actually had a positive effect on the defendant. The court heard it made him realise that he had to tackle his drink problem, if he was to avoid a long jail term and save his business, JPM Ironworks.

Mr Harris said that he was pleased to learn the defendant had managed to stay sober. ‘People rely on you,’ said the Assistant Magistrate. However, he added that he would have no hesitation in imposing a default custodial sentence, no matter what the effect on the business and its staff might be, if the defendant failed to comply with the court orders.

Police legal adviser Advocate Carla Carvalho said that on 20 November a six-month binding-over order had been imposed by the court for an initial breach of the restraining order. Czapkowski was back in court a week later for sending text messages when drunk to the woman and another individual.

Czapkowski was appearing in court to be sentenced for the sending of the text messages in breach of a restraining order initially imposed in June.

The court heard the offending message to his wife said: ‘You have ruined me’ and the court was told that it caused the woman to feel fearful.

The court heard from Advocate Adam Harrison, defending, that Czapkowski had ‘committed to ongoing sobriety’.

The advocate said that the text messages did not contain any threats and the defendant now accepted that the relationship was over.

The two-year restraining order was initially imposed after Czapkowski climbed uninvited onto the balcony of the woman’s flat and assaulted a police officer.

Earlier in June the defendant also admitted being disorderly on licensed premises at the Airport Cash Stores in St Peter. The defendant went to buy a bottle of whisky but as he was already intoxicated a staff member refused to serve him.

The court was told he threatened to go behind the counter and take the whisky and two people in the shop were ‘very worried and scared’ as a result of the defendant’s actions.

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