Aggressive beggar jailed over breach of West Bromwich ban – after being found on street
An aggressive homeless man banned from a Black Country town centre for five years has been jailed for breaching his ban - for the third time.
Maciej Bortkiewicz has plagued West Bromwich town centre and the Carters Green area in recent years. His behaviour included begging, drinking, swearing, stealing and vomiting in public.
The 34-year-old, of no fixed address, was given a five-year anti-social behaviour order banning him from the area for his list of misdemeanours on June 17, but has already broken it three times.
Bortkiewicz appeared at Sandwell Magistrates' Court yesterday for his latest breach, which took place on Saturday just days after he had been released from jail for his previous breach.
The court was told he was found to be drunk on West Bromwich High Street by officers. Mrs Virinder Bains, prosecuting, said: "It was clear he was intoxicated. With reference to the order, he has entered the marked area, he is prohibited from consuming alcohol, and he is prohibited from being found intoxicated by alcohol."
But Bortkiewicz's solicitor Mr Amrit Johal said although he pleaded guilty to the breach of Asbo, he denies being drunk.
Mr Johal said: "He has been living in the UK for approximately four years, and like others he came looking for employment.
"That started off quite well, he was working full time, but unfortunately he was the victim of quite a vicious robbery. Because of the amount of time he took off work he lost employment, and that had the knock-on effect that he lost his address. He was released from prison last week and on Saturday he returned into West Bromwich to see a friend at a previous address to collect medicine for epilepsy. He doesn't accept he was drunk, but accepts he had some drink."
District Judge Mr Ian Strongman sentenced Bortkiewicz to 16 weeks in jail, but told him he would serve up to half. He said: "This is the third time you have breached your Asbo. The police officers who saw you thought you were drunk and plainly arrested you to prevent further trouble and because you were in breach of the order."
Bortkiewicz was previously jailed for six weeks on June 21 at Sandwell Magistrates' Court for two breaches of his Asbo.
