Barbara Stange-Alvarez (pictured) destroyed wine, spirits and beer when she went on the rampage in Aldi, St Albans Magistrates’ Court was told
A jobless woman smashed £10,000 worth of alcohol in a five-minute meltdown because she ‘lost the plot’ in the country’s second Covid lockdown, a court has heard.
Barbara Stange-Alvarez destroyed wine, spirits and beer when she went on the rampage in Aldi, St Albans Magistrates’ Court was told.
The 36-year-old from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, walked along the aisle at the local store and used her arm to sweep hundreds of bottles off the shelves, a judge heard.
Shocking footage showed the floor littered with shards of broken glass and huge puddles of alcohol after the incident on November 25, 2020.
The video also saw Stange-Alvarez slip on the mess, on to the bottles, and slice her hand open.
She yesterday pleaded guilty to criminal damage, racially aggravated common assault and a racially aggravated public order offence.
The latter was for hurling insults at a security guard at the hospital where she was taken to fix her hand.
Prosecutor Clinton Hadgill told the court: ‘She made her way directly to the aisle where the alcohol is and proceeded to drag hundreds of bottles of alcohol off the shelf.’
He said on reaching the end of the aisle she went back to the beginning and repeated the exercise.
He said the defendant slipped and fell on to the broken glass around 90 seconds into the incident.
But she later stood at the end of the row and grabbed single bottles before slinging them on to the floor.
Mr Hadgill said a security guard from another store restrained Stange-Alvarez until police arrived.
The prosecutor said officers took the woman to Lister Hospital in Stevenage where she kicked a security guard in the shin and hurled racial insults at him.
She told him: ‘You Indian people. I pay my taxes for you to be in this country. Go back to your own country, I hate Indians.’
She later said to one policeman while she was being booked into custody: ‘I did not say Indian f….., I said Kashmir f…..’
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Stange-Alvarez said in an interview she was suffering from mental health problems due to having no job, depression and an abusive relationship.
She said that she was not receiving the treatment she thought she should have been.
The 36-year-old from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, walked along the aisle at the local store and used her arm to sweep hundreds of bottles off the shelves, a judge heard
Before head to Aldi that day, she said she had gone to a mental health clinic seeking help – but was unhappy at the response she got and ‘lost the plot’.
Strange-Alvarez, who represented herself in court, said she had been unable to work in 2020, adding: ‘I struggled because I was unemployed.’
District Judge Margaret Dodd told her ‘lots of people’ had faced similar hardships during the pandemic.
Stange-Alvarez went on: ‘Loads of things affected me and I was not able to get the treatment.’
She told the judge: ”It won’t happen again” and she said the medication she was now on had resulted in her being more ”stabilised”.’
Passing sentence, District Judge Dodd said she could give her credit for her guilty plea and she noted she had not been in trouble before.
She said ‘you weren’t well at the time’ but added many people had also been out of work and furloughed and had not behaved like her.
Stange-Alvarez was told she would have to pay Aldi £5000 in compensation and court costs of £85
She told Stange-Alvarez her behaviour towards the hospital security guard had been ‘upsetting and hurtful’.
He had simply been trying to do his job, only to find himself sworn at and assaulted, said the judge.
She was given a 12-week jail sentence, suspended for 18 months.
She was also made the subject of a Mental Health Treatment Requirement as well as Rehabilitation Activity Requirement.
Stange-Alvarez was told she would have to pay Aldi £5000 in compensation and court costs of £85.
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