'Jealous' boyfriend shot man in face with gas-powered BB gun
Arunas Rasikas admitted possessing a gas-powered BB gun in Yarmouth. Picture: Hustvedt/Wikimedia - Credit: Hustvedt/Wikimedia
A jealous man who armed himself with a pellet gun to threaten another over his girlfriend has been jailed for almost three years.
Arunas Rasikas, 28, of Apsley Road in Great Yarmouth, pleaded guilty last month at Norwich Crown Court to possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence on August 2, 2020.
The court heard on Wednesday (February 17) that Rasikas was jealous of perceived infidelity between his girlfriend and Darius Cesna and that on two occasions he tried to frighten the man.
Hugh Vass, prosecuting, said that on June 21 last year, CCTV officers in Great Yarmouth saw Rasikas outside KFC on Regent Road, where he was having a disagreement with his girlfriend and waving around a baseball bat before getting into a car.
He was arrested later that day and told officers his intention had been to scare Mr Cesna and tell him to stay away from his partner.
Rasikas had seen text messages between his girlfriend and Mr Cesna, the court heard.
The KFC outlet on Regent Road in Great Yarmouth. - Credit: Google Maps
Mr Vass said the second incident was on August 2, after 5am, when the accused drove to the town centre, looking for Mr Cesna, and there was a confrontation between the men in the course of which the victim was shot at least once with a pellet discharged from a gas-powered BB gun.
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The court heard Rasikas had bought the firearm two weeks beforehand.
Mr Cesna was taken to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, where doctors decided it would be too risky to surgically remove the pellet, as it was next to a facial nerve, and so it was left embedded in his face.
John Morgans, mitigating, noted the defendant's early guilty pleas, as well as his "exemplary record" at Norwich Prison, where he has been a Covid cleaner.
Mr Morgans also said the offence was related to "drunken jealousy" and that the defendant "really didn't want anyone to get hurt, his intention was to frighten".
He said his client was still together with his girlfriend.
"Any relationship that can survive all of this bodes well for the future," he added.
Judge Antony Bate said the defendant had been "aroused by jealousy at perceived infidelity of his partner with Darius Cesna".
He sentenced Rasikas to two years and eight months in prison.
