A 19-year-old man has been ordered to do unpaid work because of his role in the trashing of a junior football club's pitch. Kieron Mullan was involved in a gathering of quad bikes and dirt bikes that saw much of the grass at Betterment Park in Cwm chewed up by tyres.
RTB Ebbw Vale Junior Football Club – which hosts football for around 300 children aged five to 14 – said a match was played on the morning of February 5 and the pitch was locked up at about 12.30pm. That evening the club became aware of videos circulating on social media showing a gathering at the field with loud rap music blaring and youths tearing across grass on quad bikes. Club media officer Alex Price estimated there were around 40 youths and 10 vehicles at the scene with some doing "doughnuts and wheel spins".
The volunteer-run club estimated there was £3,500 worth of damage to the "destroyed" field, adding they were "devastated for our children as they now don't have a pitch to play on and, being a grassroots club, we have zero funding". Local rapper Dight 23 had posted an online invitation for people to turn up at the field for his music video shoot that day, but he told WalesOnline those responsible for the damage were not part of his meet.
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Days after the vandalism Kieron Mullan, of King Street in Cwm, was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. And later that month, on February 28, he was found carrying cannabis and a knuckle duster at Ystrad Mynach police station. He was charged with possession of a Class B drug and an offensive weapon as well as criminal damage.
Mullan appeared at Newport Magistrates' Court where he pleaded guilty to all three offences and received a 12-month community order with 140 hours of unpaid work. He was ordered to pay prosecution costs of £85 and a £114 victim services surcharge. No compensation was ordered because the court had been "unable to quantify the defendant's contribution to the damage", said a court spokesman.
Club chairman Karl Morecroft said it was a "great result" that a culprit had been brought to justice. The 41-year-old, who coaches the under-sevens side, added that the support from locals following the vandalism was "amazing". Some £1,305 was donated to help repair the field but Peter Villars Sportsground Maintenance then waived a fee for the job meaning the donations could go towards running the club.
"The fact the court has recognised what happened is great and hopefully he will learn from it. If he wants to come and mow our grass for his 140 hours that would be fine with us. It's right that he isn't getting away with it. Why would you want to do that to a club on your doorstep? Everyone knows what we do for the community.
"It was a horrible situation for the club but the repercussions have been amazing. The exposure we got, the people reaching out to make sure the kids weren't going to be suffering. We've come out of it stronger as a club. The amount of support from the community just goes to show what this area is like."
A 23-year-old man from Ebbw Vale who was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intentionally or recklessly cause a public nuisance will not face further action, said a Gwent Police spokesman. You can read more of the latest breaking news from Wales here.
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