A tile layer who smashed his own handiwork after a client failed to pay the final instalment on a bill of works, was handed a suspended sentence by a court on Monday and ordered to make good the damage caused.

Abraham Kwabena Donyinah, 39, from Ghana residing at Marsascala, ended up on the wrong side of the law after smashing the tiles which he himself had laid for a client.

The man had been owed an outstanding balance of some €200 on the total bill relative to the works carried out inside a Sliema apartment.

Yet when the client failed to hand over the final instalment, the accused had set about destroying his own work, causing over €3000 in damages.

Upon his arraignment today, Mr Donyinah was visibly very anxious, weeping in the dock and falling to his knees before pleading guilty to having wilfully damaged third party property.

“It was not my fault,” the man wept, clasping his hands in a pleading gesture, as his defence counsel and the presiding magistrate asked him to calm down.

Upon hearing the man admit to his wrongdoing, Magistrate Doreen Clarke handed down an 18-month jail term suspended for two years and ordered him to pay €3020 to his former client, within six months.

The court further issued a Protection Order in favour of the client.

As the court explained the implications of this sentence, the accused once more dropped to his knees, making the sign of the cross.

Inspector Jonathan Ransley prosecuted.

Lawyer Francine Abela was legal aid counsel.