James Michael Pernich, 29, sentenced for string of Kingaroy vandalism

The 29-year-old Kingaroy man who scrawled unsightly graffiti over Kingaroy landmarks and businesses including the Big Peanut and Peanut Van, led police straight to his door. Here’s what happened:

The man who targeted Kingaroy businesses and landmarks with tasteless graffiti didn’t make it hard for police to track him down, leaving a trail of simple clues to his identity.

James Michael Pernich, 29, scrawled graffiti across multiple sites in Kingaroy between January 3 and 10, including targeting a childcare centre, the Peanut Van and the newly installed big peanut.

Pernich faced court on 15 charges, including 12 counts of wilful damage by graffiti, as well as possessing marijuana, drug utensils and graffiti supplies.

Across January 3 to 10, Pernich tagged dozens of sites across Kingaroy, with scrawlings including his trademark ‘PERN’ and ‘FTP’.

Police launched an investigation and quickly tracked down CCTV footage of the offender entering the Kingaroy Shopping World bathrooms to carry out a tagging.

On January 10, officers executed a search warrant at Pernich’s home where they found spray cans and other graffiti instruments, as well as the clothing seen in the CCTV footage.

Checks of his Facebook also helped confirm the identity, with Pernich displaying his ‘PERN’ tag on his cover photo.

The Kingaroy State High School and South Burnett Regional Council both sought to have restitution ordered for the amounts of $1871 and $2069 respectively, after they undertook cleaning work to remove the vandalism.

Pernich was represented by Mark Werner who told the court his client suffers ADHD and Aspergers, and was on a disability support pension.

The 29-year-old slouched in his chair while the facts were read to the court.

Police charged 29-year-old James Pernich with 12 counts of wilful damage to property. Photo: QPS

Magistrate Andrew Sinclair ordered restitution be paid to the victims, noting that while the nearly-$4000 “won’t make the victims any better off”, the heavy bill levied from Pernich’s limited income would act as a deterrent.

“While it's easy enough to clean this stuff off, graffiti seems to attract more graffiti,” Mr Sinclair said.

“The people whose taxes pay for these things don’t want to see your name or anyone else’s name scribbled across their property.”

Pernich was also order to complete 40 hours of unpaid graffiti removal work and was fined $250 for the drug offences.

The restitution payments and drug fine were both referred to SPER.