A man who broke into a Belfast LGBTQ+ bar and repeatedly returned to a drag performers’ dressing room, where he damaged costumes worth more than £1,000, has been sentenced to seven months in prison.
Gvidas Malinauskas, 42, admitted burglary with intent to steal and criminal damage following the incident at the Union Street Bar in September last year. Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard that he entered the venue during the morning through an unlocked door and remained on the premises for several hours.
Prosecutors said Malinauskas was seen wearing a series of costumes, including wigs, boots and catsuits. At various points during the morning and afternoon, he left the dressing room dressed in different outfits before returning again later.
A Public Prosecution Service lawyer told the court that the defendant initially wore a white fluffy coat, pink boots and a long wig, before changing into a beige catsuit and later a blue bodysuit with a blonde wig. He was eventually discovered back in the dressing room by one of the drag performers, wearing a black catsuit, pink fluffy top and red wig.
Prosecutors told the court that staff were unaware anyone was inside the building until a drag performer later encountered Malinauskas in the dressing room during the afternoon. By the time management were alerted, he had changed back into his own clothes and left without speaking to anyone.
When staff inspected the dressing room, they discovered several costumes had been badly damaged. The court was told items were torn, stained and left with a strong smell of urine, leaving the performers unable to use them. The total value of the damaged outfits was assessed at just under £1,100.
Malinauskas, a Lithuanian national with no fixed address, was later arrested and pleaded guilty to both charges. His defence lawyer said he had been heavily intoxicated at the time of the incident and could offer no explanation for his behaviour. The court was also told there was no evidence the offence was motivated by hostility towards the performers or their sexual orientation.
Sentencing Malinauskas, the judge said the intrusion had caused significant distress and financial loss, adding that a custodial sentence was necessary given the repeated nature of the conduct and the extent of the damage caused. He was jailed for seven months, with credit given for his guilty plea and the time he had already spent in custody.
Scene was founded in Brighton in 1993, at a time when news stories about Pride protests were considered radical.
Since then, Scene has remained proudly independent, building a platform for queer voices. Every subscription helps us to report on the stories that matter to LGBTQ+ people across the UK and beyond.
Your support funds our journalists and contributes to Pride Community Foundation’s grant-making and policy work.
Member discussion