Baby showered with broken glass in Boxing Day baseball bat incident at Sunderland home

A man showered a baby with glass when he smashed a house front window with a baseball bat in a case of mistaken identity, a court heard.

Idiotic Marc Quinn, 27, got his bearings wrong and attacked an innocent family’s home in East View, Castletown, at 5.45am on Boxing Day.

Quinn, who lives two doors away in the same street, was identified by a witness who told police he had seen him with the sports club.

When arrested 15 minutes later, he confessed to having targeted the incorrect abode, prosecutor Chris Tame told magistrates in South Tyneside.

Mr Tame said: “The complainant states that she was at home with her partner and son in their front living room.

“Her son was his play pen which was in the middle of the room and was about one metre from the window.

“The complainant heard a loud bang, and the front window was put through. It covered her son with glass.

“She looked towards the outside and saw an unknown male with his hood up and holding a pole.

“Her son was covered in shards of glass. An ambulance came to check on him but there were no injuries.

“The defendant was named as the person responsible by another party and was arrested at 6am.

“The third party said the defendant had a baseball bat which he says was the weapon which was used to smash the window.

“He was arrested and made a significant statement. He said, ‘I will admit it. I broke the window because I thought that somebody else was there’.

“It was reckless towards this property. The child was absolutely covered in glass. The crown would say he was reckless.”

Quinn, who has 23 previous convictions from 40 offences, including nine against property, pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage of £300.

Alastair Naismith, defending, said: “He had the wrong address. Even so, he has gone about this the wrong way in the first place.

“He absolutely didn’t mean to target this lady and was unaware of the presence of a child. He is sorry.

“He had been abstaining from alcohol, but it was Christmas and he had had a drink and he lost control.”

Magistrates ordered Quinn to pay the mum £300 compensation and fined him £120, with £85 court costs and a £48 victim surcharge.