Machete attack on door while brother’s children slept

AN UNCLE who used a machete to hack at his brother’s front door while his children were sleeping inside has been jailed.

Ladislav Bogdan (36), of York Road, Rotherham, had got into an argument with his brother, Marek Bogdan, over money, Sheffield Crown Court heard last Wednesday.

“The result was that at around 10pm the police were called and the defendant was arrested to prevent a breach of the peace,” Mr Tim Savage, prosecuting, said.

“He was subsequently released from the police station and at around 3am the defendant returned to the house.”

Marek Bogdan’s children had been in bed when his brother, who was in drink, returned to their house.

“The defendant started banging on the door and shouting and the complainant saw him take a machete from his car which he used to strike the front door of the house repeatedly,” Mr Savage said.

“The police attended again and searched the area for the defendant who, on realising the police were following him disposed of the machete in some bushes.”

Bogdan, who attacked his brother’s front door in May, had been under investigation for a burglary at the time.

He raided a three-bedroom detached house on Lincroft Drive, Parkgate, in March last year, Mr Savage said.

The woman who lived at the house, which was undergoing renovations at the time, had left it locked and secured.

“On March 8 the woman returned to find the conservatory door had been removed and was laid on the floor,” said Mr Savage.

“There had been an untidy search and a number of tools had been stolen.”

Mr Savage said items worth £180 had been taken and the cost of repairing the door had been £1,000.

“The defendant had left his DNA on a glass at the scene,” he said.

The woman said in a statement that having her house burgled had been a “horrible and unnerving experience”.

“For my partner to have his tools taken after working so hard to pay for them over many years is unfair,” she said.

“My home no longer feels like home and no longer feels safe.”

Bogdan (pictured, left) pleaded guilty to burglary at a hearing at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court on May 29.

He admitted criminal damage and possession of a bladed article at Sheffield Crown Court on October 19.

Mitigating, Mr Clarkson Baptiste said Bogdan had fully accepted his fate \_ that an immediate prison term was likely.

Jailing Bogdan for 18 months and two weeks, Judge Rachael Harrison said: “You went back to your brother’s address where his children were in bed.

“You had armed yourself with a machete and you damaged his front door.

“You knew you had done wrong because you got rid of the knife before you were arrested.”