A magistrate yesterday described five young Dutchmen as heinous vandals after they went on a rampage in a rented Gozo farmhouse and caused €13,000 worth of damage.

All five filed an early guilty plea, cooperated with the police, paid for the damage and expressed their regret for what they had done. They were let off with a conditional discharge.

The five men were Matthijs Lucas Bockting, 20, Willem Andreas Den Herder, 20, Nicolas Cornelis Pieter Kramer, 29, Arthur Schulte, 25, and Marteen Herman Ter Horst, 22.

They were on holiday in a beautiful four-bedroom character farmhouse called Ta' Giannmarie in Żebbuġ. Within a few days of arriving they had caused thousands of euros of damage to the property.

Magistrate Anthony Ellul severely reprimanded the men in his judgment: "It would seem that their idea of having a good time was to act like a pack of heinous vandals without consideration that they were using other people's private property".

He said that if the owners of the farmhouse and the young men had not reached an amicable settlement they might have faced serious consequences.

He went on to describe their behaviour as "totally unacceptable and shameful".

The court, however, noted that although they had caused havoc they did their utmost to compensate the owners and did so within hours, so they deserved credit for that.

The magistrate said he hoped the men had learnt their lesson, that they were truly sorry for what they had done and would not repeat such shameful acts when using private property.