A Judge described a man who 'absolutely lost it' in a phone shop after repair delays and being asked to pay £4.99 for a cardboard box as 'a tale of modern despair'.

Aaron O'Kane, 23, from Carnhill, appeared before Derry Magistrates Court today charged with criminal damage, disorderly behaviour and two further counts of attempted criminal damage.

The court heard that on January 21, 2014, at the Carphone Warehouse in the Richmond Centre, O'Kane entered the shop and threw a computer and a 'chip and PIN' machine off the counter and broke a phone charger in two by biting it. O'Kane was also abusive to staff.

When police arrived they observed a computer 'dangling by the wires' and a broken phone charger.

O'Kane had sent his phone off for repair through the shop and was given a replacement phone while it was being fixed. When he called to collect his phone, he did not have the box for the replacement phone and was asked to pay £4.99 for it.

He began shouting at customers in the shop, including a young child, telling them not to buy anything from the shop as they would be 'ripped off'.

He proceeded to bite the phone charger and it broke in two. He then threw the chip and PIN machine on the ground and attempted to throw the computer on the ground.

He admitted the offences saying that he was frustrated because a repair he was told would take two weeks had taken a month.

Seamus Quigley, defence solicitor, said O'Kane 'may well have been having a bad day and all his frustrations boiled over and he took the view the mobile phone company was ripping him off'.

Mr Quigley said that O'Kane accepted he had 'acted disgracefully' and had 'absolutely lost it' and this was 'all over him being charged £5 for a cardboard box'.

He added: "It doesn't excuse his behaviour but proves that all of us or most of us, given the right set of circumstances, have the ability to lose it once in our lives."

Mr Quigley then remarked: "How did we all get on with our lives without mobile telephones 20 years ago?"

District Judge Barney McElholm sad: "This is a tale of modern despair.

"This man has no record but it does not excuse his bad manners; this would have been frightening for employees."

O'Kane was given a two year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £20 compensation for the charger.

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