A resident who lives next to a Qormi doughnut outlet frequented by Paceville revellers lost his cool and smashed up part of the shop's glass door and some signs inside after three years of early-morning noise and disturbances took their toll on him.

Kevin Bartolo, 34, had enough of people stopping outside his house, making noise, using the area as a toilet, as loud music from cars barred him and his family from getting a good night's rest, defence lawyer Arthur Azzopardi said.

He pointed out that the street had become so dirty from the amount of people visiting the place and from the oil used in the shop that it could probably break every public sanitation law in the book.

Mr Bartolo pleaded guilty to threatening the owner of the shop yesterday at about 12.30 a.m., damaging signs and a door, being drunk and disobeying police orders.

Police Inspector Sandra Zammit confirmed the situation that prevailed outside the shop and said that Mr Bartolo had never been involved in any incident with the police and was a first-time offender.

She added that, as yet, the owner of the shop had not given her an estimate of how much it would cost to repair the shop.

Magistrate Edwina Grima said she would put the case off for a week until an estimate was produced.

The prosecuting officer said she would be investigating further to find out whether the shop had a licence to operate during late hours.

Lawyer Emmanuel Mallia also appeared for the defendant.