Teenager tried to torch mum's Leeds home when she refused him drug money
A drug-addled teenager was caught trying to set fire to his mother’s home when she refused to give him cash.
Jozef Stojka took a flame to the carpet in the bedroom following the argument at the property on Ivy Crescent in East End Park.
The 19-year-old appeared at Leeds Crown Court this week having already entered guilty pleas to arson and four counts of assault against his mum. He has been held on remand and appeared for sentence via video link from HMP Doncaster.
The court heard that on December 23 last year his mother said Stojka was “acting strangely” so she went upstairs and found him trying to set fire to the carpet. He tried to put it out when she walked into the room, and he became aggressive.
He threatened her with a plank of wood taken from a broken bedroom drawer and she ran from the house.
On March 7 he turned aggressive towards her again and threw a glass and a sandwich at her, and 11 days later another argument broke out in which he threatened to kill her, before punching her to the head. Fortunately, it did not cause any injury.
Mitigating, Rhianydd Clement said Stojka had been on remand for six months and added: “He does not recall the offences due to his mental state and predominantly his drug use, but he feels sad when he heard about his actions.
“He was a heavy drug user but that affords him no excuse. He is a young man. He acknowledges and recognises he needs to change his personal circumstances and his behaviour.”
She said he had come to the UK when he was six, but had a difficult upbringing. He began to take cannabis on “virtually a daily basis”.
He has abstained from drugs while on remand and is “looking to the future”, Miss Clement added.
Judge Richard Mansell KC told Stojka: “These incidents took place in your mother’s home where she should have felt safe and secure.
“The context always appears to be the same - you ask for money, probably for drugs, and when you do not get it you demand it and become argumentative and aggressive towards her.
“She does not deserve to be put through any of this anymore.”
He was already on a suspended sentence for having offensive weapons - 16 weeks suspended for 12 months.
Judge Mansell activated the full 16 weeks, and gave him an additional 36 weeks, making it a 52-week sentence.