Dodgy plumber Nikola Necic pleads guilty to failing to provide services, deceiving others for own benefit

A dodgy plumber who took advantage of a couple with poor English skills then failed to provide the work he billed them over has faced court.

A dodgy plumber took advantage of a Vietnamese couple with poor English skills and failed to provide the work he billed them over $15,000 to do, before doing the same to another woman, a court has heard.

On Wednesday, Nikola Necic, 40, was due to face a three-day trial in the Adelaide Magistrates Court, but instead pleaded guilty to two counts each of failing to provide goods and services within a reasonable time, and deceiving another to benefit himself.

Court documents released to The Advertiser revealed the extent of Necic’s offending and how much money he accepted for work across SA he never completed between December 2019 and November 2020.

“On December 3 2019, the defendant sent a contract to (a couple) in Warradale, in which the defendant agreed to perform building work in return for the payment of $13,800,” counsel for the Consumer Affairs Commission alleged.

That initial sum of money, broken into two payments of $8,500 and another $5,300, was paid to Necic in exchange for building work starting on December 11, 2019 that was due for completion in 20 to 21 days.

“The defendant failed to supply all the Warradale building work within the period specified in the contract or at any later time and did not provide any refund,” the Consumer Affairs Commission said in court documents.

Nikola Necic pleaded guilty to taking advantage of customers. Pictured at Adelaide Magistrates Court.

Necic took thousands of dollars from customers but never returned to finish the work.

Counsel for the Consumer Affairs Commission previously said that the Warradale couple Necic took advantage of were Vietnamese, and were not strong English speakers. It is also understood that they were then forced to pay another tradesperson about $10,000 to complete the jobs that Necic had promised and failed to do.

Necic had also offered to remove the existing concrete in the bathroom for the couple in order to pour a new slab for an extra cost of $750.

The clients paid that cost, but Necic failed “to supply the concrete services” within a reasonable time, and with no possibility of a refund.

Later that month, Necic then told the clients he had ordered and paid nearly $4000 for windows he intended to install into the Warradale property.

However, despite the clients then transferring him nearly $8000 for the removal of the old windows and the installation of the new ones, Necic had never ordered them.

In court on Wednesday, Necic was silent and spoke only to answer the four charges: “Guilty,” he said.

The documents further revealed he had failed to complete work for a customer in Marino, who had paid him nearly $20,000.

She then gave him a“$10,000 in cash by way of a personal loan.”

Prosecutors are seeking compensation for the victim’s of Necic’s crimes, but his lawyer asked the court to adjourn the matter for eight weeks so she could organise reports before sentencing.

“I hope to arrange a psychological report to assist Your Honour when sentencing him,” she said.

“Restitution is a difficult matter in this matter. It’s clear restitution is an issue for sentence, however the quantum, given the works were partially complete, will need to be worked out between myself and counsel for the complainant.”

Magistrate Oliver Koehn will hear sentencing submissions for Necic in April.