Three Extinction Rebellion activists plead guilty over damage outside Santos building
Three Extinction Rebellion protesters have pleaded guilty over damage to the Santos HQ – and will pay thousands in compensation. Two received suspended jail terms.
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Three Extinction Rebellion protesters have pleaded guilty to damaging the Santos building with paint – and to spraying two police officers as well.
In the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Friday, Sarah Edwards and Bradley Homewood pleaded guilty to a number of counts arising from the protest on Thursday.
Homewood, 50, of Williamstown in Victoria admitted using a fire extinguisher filled with paint and water to spray the building.
Edwards, 49, of East Lismore in NSW, pleaded guilty to the same charge.
She also admitted “recklessly” spraying two SA Police officers with her “diluted” paint-filled extinguisher, causing $5346.28 damage to their leather and Kevlar armour.
Meanwhile, one of the protesters released on bail on Thursday returned to court seeking to alter her release conditions – then opted to plead guilty instead.
Edwards, Homewood and Heinke Weber said they would split the $5345 damage they caused to the building three ways, meaning each will pay Santos $1781 compensation.
The duo were arrested alongside Ian Fox and Heinke Weber on Thursday during an Extinction Rebellion protest outside Santos Place.
It was the third day of action by the group, following the abseiling-stunt blocking of North Terrace and Morphett St on Wednesday.
Actor Meme Caroline Thorne was arrested and eventually bailed over that incident.
On Friday, a police prosecutor said both Edwards and Homewood had long histories of protest action interstate, and multiple convictions for disorderly behaviour.
He said Edwards was currently serving a good behaviour bond for like offending in NSW, involving a protest that disrupted traffic on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
“She has come into SA with the clear and sole intention of protesting in a manner that causes large-scale damage,” he said.
“Given this offending and her interstate history, we say it may certainly be that imprisonment is now appropriate.”
Homewood, he said, had shown a “clear intention to continue to offend” despite “having received leniency” in the past.
“The community needs assurance the courts will hold people accountable for this type of offending,” he said.
“If little or no penalty is given, it does nothing to stop this occurring.
“It’s not the aim of SA Police to stop anyone from exercising their lawful right to protest, but this was criminal behaviour, not a peaceful protest.”
James Caldicott, for all three protesters, said Edwards was a community-minded registered nurse whose offending could not be compared to “ordinary” cases of property damage.
He asked she be sentenced to compensation and time served, and not banned from participating in future Extinction Rebellion events.
“This was not a criminal enterprise, this was not delinquency, but an act intended to bring light to an important issue,” he said.
“They’re trying to bring attention to a noble cause but have stepped one step too far.
“That does not excuse the conduct and does not mitigate it in that sense, and none of what’s been said here excuses the behaviour.”
Magistrate Michael Barnett replied: “Why mention it, then?”
“I don’t regard the time served as a sufficient penalty given her antecedents,” he said.
“I would be minded to impose a further period of imprisonment and compensation.”
Mr Caldicott said Weber, 68, should be sentenced to time served and allowed to return to her home in Moe, Victoria.
“She is a craniotherapist … she resides in Victoria, her partner is in Victoria, her work is in Victoria,” he said.
Homewood, he said, was a full-time concrete truck driver who should receive a similar penalty because he had never been convicted of a criminal offence in SA.
Asked, by Mr Barnett, if Homewood was contrite for his actions, Mr Caldicott said he was “sorry for the damage and the disruption”.
However, he conceded Homewood intended to join future protest action organised by Extinction Rebellion.
In sentencing, Mr Barnett said Edwards’ actions could not be excused.
“Your conduct was deliberate and premeditated, and is not mitigated by your beliefs about the cause you were protesting,” he said.
“You have a right to protest, but not to damage property.”
He jailed Edwards for seven days, saying it would have been 14 days if not for her guilty plea, but suspended that term on condition of a 12-month good behaviour bond.
He further ordered she pay Santos $1781, and SA Police $5346.28.
Homewood received an identical penalty and suspended sentence to Edwards, but is only required to pay compensation to Santos. Mr Barnett said there was “no material difference” between the duo’s offending.
Mr Barnett said Weber’s situation was “materially different” to her peers, however, due to her comparative lack of prior offending.
That, he said, meant she would not receive a prison term.
He released her on a 12-month good behaviour bond, and ordered she too pay Santos $1781 compensation.
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Originally published as Three Extinction Rebellion activists plead guilty over damage outside Santos building
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