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Folkestone man hits out at court system after woman living in a tent pays £33 in compensation over broken TV
05:00, 06 May 2023
A man has branded the legal system “a joke” as a woman ordered to pay him £200 after smashing up his TV has coughed up just £33 in the 14 months since.
Ellisia Bone, from Deal, put her foot through the £500 device at Liam Bennett’s home in Folkestone after he intervened in a fight between her and her mother.
Magistrates last year ordered the 19-year-old to compensate Mr Bennett after she admitted criminal damage.
But more than a year on - and two-and-a-half years since the offence - Mr Bennett says he is still owed £167, and has not received a penny since September.
He spoke out as Bone, who has been known to live in a tent, was hit with another compensation order for being drunk at the wheel of a car she took without consent.
“I am the victim of crime here,” said a frustrated Mr Bennett, 39.
“How are they going to get any money out of someone who lives in a tent?
“I am not happy. The TV was gifted to me by my late mother. It was [worth] £500 and I’ve only received £33.
“It’s so frustrating. I am the victim here; how can she get away with this?
“I want the £167 I am still owed.”
Mr Bennett was at his home in December 2020 when Bone came round to see her mother and a disturbance broke out.
Bone spat blood on Mr Bennett’s mirror and put her foot through his television, shattering it into pieces.
She would later be arrested and charged, but after skipping her first court appearance in October 2021 was not convicted until March of last year.
It was then she was ordered to pay Mr Bennett £200 for the broken TV, but he claims to have only received £20 in April that year and £13 in September.
Since then he has had no luck chasing the money he is owed.
“I have called on several occasions only to be told [my case is] with enforcement, so they say they are chasing the payment,” he continued.
“It’s a joke, it really is. She’s a menace and she’s still free to roam the streets and commit crimes.
“She makes a joke of the legal system.”
Mr Bennett aired his grievances after Bone was spared jail last month for a number of other offences.
Folkestone magistrates were told Bone had attacked five police officers and a man in Ashford last April while experiencing a mental health crisis.
Four months later, on the day she admitted the assaults, she was re-arrested after taking a vehicle in Herne Bay without the owner’s consent while drunk.
A breath test showed she had 98 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of her breath. The legal limit is 35.
On April 17 she appeared in the dock and pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking, drink-driving and driving without insurance or a licence.
Sentencing Bone for all outstanding matters, the bench jailed her for 10 weeks, but suspended the sentence for three months.
She was also fined £100 for drink-driving, banned from the road for two years and ordered to pay £250 compensation to the vehicle owner.
But Mr Bennett believes the victim in that case has little chance of seeing any money from Bone, who gave her address as Dola Avenue in Deal.
“She has beaten police, taken a car and drove around drunk, the law is an a**,” he said.
“She can’t even pay my compensation, let alone pay more.
“I say good luck to that person who will be expecting their money, as I am still waiting.”
A HM Courts and Tribunals Service spokesman said: “We rigorously pursue the money criminals owe to victims, and offenders can be sent to prison for not paying.”
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