A 20-year-old who switched street lights off and on “for fun” after breaking into two electricity boxes has been spared another term in detention.
John Duncan, who returned to the scene to switch one of the boxes back on after his mother phoned him to complain that her internet connection was broken, was ordered at Dundee Sheriff Court on Tuesday to take part in a personal development course.
Duncan and around 15 other teenagers left live wires exposed and caused more than £1,250 of damage after plunging the street into darkness in the Kirkton area of the city last May.
Residents saw a number of teenagers hanging around and recognised Duncan, who was kicking an electricity box. Police were called after some houses lost power and the street’s internet connections stopped working.
Duncan returned with a metal bar and socket set and prised open the box in Beauly Square. He was seen bending down switching off the street lights.
The teenagers took turns to switch the street lights off and on, before running off, leaving the area in darkness.
Duncan told police he was “there with other people” and that his mother had phoned to say she had no internet, so he went to the box and “switched it back on again”.
Duncan, of Beauly Crescent, admitted that while acting with others he culpably and recklessly forced open electricity distribution boxes and damaged the circuit board and components, interfered with the power supply and left the components exposed to the danger of the public on Beauly Avenue and Beauly Square on May 8 last year.
The court heard that Duncan, who appeared from custody on Tuesday, was detained on another matter and would be released next month.
Sheriff George Way sentenced Duncan to an 18-month community payback order and ordered him to participate in the Venture Trust scheme on his release.
He told Duncan: “Periods of imprisonment have not helped your thought process, maybe this will. If you don’t, the vicious cycle will just go on, I think you understand that.”