Youth is ordered to pay Highland skate park compensation after being sentenced at Inverness Sheriff Court
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A TEENAGER who accidentally set fire to a gazebo at a popular skateboard park helped rebuild it after it was destroyed in the blaze, a court was told.
Mateusz Dymarski (19), of Laurel Avenue, Inverness, was drunk when he lit a crisp packet on a plastic picnic table. But he did not put it out properly and the flames spread, gutting the timber structure on October 5, 2019.
Dymarski appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit a charge of culpable and reckless conduct after his not guilty plea to wilful fire-raising was accepted by the prosecution.
He was ordered to pay £400 in compensation to the park operator, the Highland Skate Parks Association (HSPA).
The court was told Dymarksi gave himself up to police, telling them it was an accident. He then offered to pay for the damage but the court was told this was rejected.
However, defence solicitor Clare Russell said: “He acted in a drunken fashion, lighting the crisp packet. But he helped deconstruct and then reconstruct the gazebo.”
The park was closed for several days and members of the charitable organisation HSPA said the incident was “absolutely devastating”.
Chairwoman Natalie Murray said at the time: “It’s disheartening. I have been involved for about seven years – before everything got built – so to see that, you feel as if it’s your own.”
In an effort to return the park to its former state, founding members launched a £5000 crowdfunding appeal which raised more than £500 in less than 24 hours.
Mrs Murray, a mountain bike coach at the park, added: “It is a positive place, a safe place. This is only a small part of it. People come from all over the country to use it.”
The skate park opened in 2014 and was hailed as one of the best in Scotland at the time. HSPA secured money from Big Lottery, Sport Scotland and the Inverness Common Good Fund. The facility cost £455,000 and replaced an old one at the same site.
It was built largely from concrete and has 10 separate sections spread over 12,900sq ft.
A survey of primary school pupils showed “significant demand” for somewhere to practise their skateboarding.
