This woman takes alcohol abuse to a whole other level. She went on a rampage smashing hundreds of alcohol bottles and causing over $13,000 in damages at a British supermarket.
At the time, there was no rhyme or reason for the November 2020 event. The woman simply entered an Aldi supermarket in Stevenage, England, and began sweeping her arms across the shelves sending bottles onto the floor where they promptly shattered. Shoppers looked on but no one interfered.
Some footage of the incident showed the woman slipping and falling on the shattered glass. Reports state she was cut, and her right hand was bleeding.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” you can hear one man saying off-camera. You could also hear uncomfortable laughter in the background.
The Outcome
When all was said and done, the woman, who was wearing a gray hoodie, khaki pants, and carrying a backpack, had destroyed hundreds of bottles of alcohol causing $13,000 in damages. Les Clark, a store clerk who witnessed the incident, reported the damage had forced the store to close for the day. Their flooring was destroyed and required a replacement.
The woman was eventually arrested and escorted out by a police officer. She was treated at a local hospital for her injuries.
Later reports state that the now-identified woman, 36-year-old Barbara Stange-Alvarez of Stevenage, England, appeared in St. Albans Magistrates Court in January of 2022. She pleaded guilty to criminal damage, racially aggravated assault, and racially aggravated public order. The latter charges were for insulting a security guard at the hospital where she was receiving treatment for her hand.
“She made her way directly to the aisle where the alcohol is and proceeded to drag hundreds of bottles of alcohol off the shelf,” Prosecutor Clinton Hadgill told the court. He then described how she went back to the beginning of the aisle and repeated her activity.
District Judge Margaret Dodd ordered her to pay Aldi 5000 pounds (over USD 6000) in damages. She was also given a 12-week jail sentence suspended for 18 months.
The woman explained her actions to the judge. She stated that she was experiencing mental health issues and was not receiving proper treatment at the time.
She further stated that she was unable to work during 2020 and “struggled because I was unemployed.”
The judge was sympathetic and agreed that “lots of people” had been in a similar predicament. She was light on Stange-Alvarez because she had not been in trouble before and was not “well at the time.” However, she did call the women’s racial outbursts “upsetting and hurtful.”
The defendant showed remorse and promised it wouldn’t happen again. She also mentioned feeling stabilized after receiving new medication.
Viewer Reactions
The video was shared across several social media channels and received millions of views, shares, and comments.
“Why is everybody staring at her? No one can pull her away?” one commenter wondered.
“I feel bad for the guy making minimum wage that will have to clean all that up,” another commenter joked.
“Mental health is a real thing,” a third viewer pointed out.
