Why a Sydney council threatened the hoarder of Horsley Park with jail

A Sydney man has been given “one further chance” to clear an illegal waste dump where he stockpiled building materials, trucks, scrap metal, shopping trolleys, baths and sinks or face a $45,000 fine for being in contempt of court.

He will, however, be allowed to keep one working tractor.

Fairfield City Council has been pursuing Saviour Camilleri since 2006 for hoarding at two Horsley Park properties that had become noticeable to neighbours years earlier. The council first took the matter to the NSW Land and Environment Court in 2016 for breaches of planning laws involving “unlawful storage of waste”, and later for ignoring court orders to clean it up.

In the NSW Land and Environment Court, Justice John Robson on Thursday found Camilleri guilty of contempt for “disobeying or otherwise failing to comply” with court orders from November 2022 relating to his Burley Road property.

He was fined $45,000, but the payment was suspended if he removed a long list of waste materials, disposed of them at a lawful facility and provided Fairfield City Council with the receipts.

The council had been seeking a suspended jail term, arguing that since Camilleri’s previous guilty pleas over the other land, “the contempt has become more serious”; he had “taken no steps towards complying with the court orders”; and the court “should conclude it was likely” he would reoffend. The council argued a prison sentence should be suspended if certain conditions were met, so Camilleri would have “one further chance” to clean up the property.

Saviour Camilleri had earlier pleaded guilty to contempt over his property in Delaware Road, Horsley Park.Credit: Sitthixay Ditthavong

Camilleri represented himself at the latest hearing, on April 4, giving evidence from the witness box and making submissions from the bar table with the help of his partner, Diane Borg.

He told the court he wanted to “carry on” with his life, had lost work and “was kind of broke”, but acknowledged he had “disobeyed” some earlier court orders. He disagreed there were “stockpiles” of material, saying there was a “bit of metal and piping” and argued he needed “gates and fencing stuff” for animals on his land.

Robson found Camilleri was aware of the “clear and unambiguous” court orders when he breached them, and that the breach involved “deliberate defiance”. However, Robson said imprisonment was “a penalty of last resort” in contempt cases, and not one he would make “based on the present evidence”.

Camilleri has been ordered to remove “all waste materials, including but not limited to building materials, wooden crates, concrete slabs, bricks, shopping trolleys, cardboard boxes, metal roofing, metal fencing, metal piping, tyres, baths, sinks, metal drums, scrap metal, metal roofing, plastic pipes, refrigerators, hot water systems, timber, plastic, plastic containers, unregistered trucks, unregistered trailers, and motor vehicles over 4.5 gross vehicle mass”. An exception was made for “one working tractor”.

The court imposed an August 14 deadline. If Camilleri fails, the council will be allowed to enter the property from August 15 to assess the cost and begin the clean-up within three months. The council would then send Camilleri the bill.

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