Ravindra Jayasinghe Mudalige pleaded guilty to odometer tampering

A father-of-two who purchased a car for his daughter has pleaded guilty to changing the odometer and selling the vehicle for a profit, despite its dilapidated quality.

A qualified mechanic has pleaded guilty to forging a log book and winding back two separate odometers after selling the cars online.

Ravindra Jayasinghe Mudalige, 52, appeared in the Christies Beach Magistrates Court on Thursday after being charged with two counts of interfering with an odometer on second-hand

vehicles and one count of dishonest dealings with documents.

The court heard Mudalige had purchased a Holden Astra that was in a ‘dilapidated’ state for the price of $500 with the intent to fix the vehicle and give it to his daughter for her first car.

Ravindra Jayasinghe Mudalige leaving Christies Beach Magistrate Court.

“The defendant advertised the Holden Astra for sale on Facebook marketplace and Gumtree with an asking price of about $5000,” said the Consumer and Business Services prosecutor.

“On October 26, 2021, a consumer purchased that Astra from the defendant for $4,900.

“At the time of the purchase the Astra had an odometer reading of 106,000 some 64,000 less than when the defendant acquired the vehicle.

The court heard Mudalige had purchased the vehicle a year prior in June 2020, with an odometer reading of around 170,000 kilometres.

The log book also belonging to the car was also found to obtain false service history, with entries from Queensland and Northern Territory.

In November 2021, Mudalige purchased another vehicle, a 2017 Mitsubishi Pajero, paying $22,500. At the time of the acquisition the odometer for the vehicle was 370,773 kilometres.

“In April 2022, the defendant advertised the vehicle for sale on Facebook and gumtree for a sales price of $38,000,” said the Consumer and Business Services prosecutor.

“The odometer reading was 160,000.”

The Mitsubishi Pajero Ravindra Jayasinghe Mudalige purchased in 2021. Pic: Consumer and Business Services

Investigators for CBS became aware of the offending and placed an embargo on the Mitsubishi, preventing it from being sold.

Casey Isaacs, defence counsel for Mudalige, told the court he client moved from Sri Lanka to Australia in 2009 and was a qualified mechanic at the time.

“The defendant changed his employment to aged care and disability support,” Mr Isaacas said.

“As his daughters got older he purchased her first car and his intention was to use the skills he had to fix it up and have it in a road worthy condition.”

The court heard Mudalige spent between $3000 to $4000 in replenishing the car including replacing the dashboard.

“The Mitsubishi was also purchased in a dilapidated state, that was purchased because his children wished for a bigger vehicle,” Mr Isaacs said.

Magistrates Natalie Browne fined Mudalige a total of $3000.

No convictions were recorded.

In a statement, Minister Consumer and Business Affairs Andrea Michaels said it’s important for consumers to be vigilant when it comes to deals.

“At a time where cost of living pressures are taking their toll, it’s understandable that people will turn to online marketplaces to try and secure a great deal,” she said.

“Unfortunately, sometimes the deal that seems too good to be true is.

“CBS is continuing to keep an eye out for those operators who try to deceive

consumers by tampering with odometers and seeking to make a quick buck.”