Caidan Brown-Paul faces Port Macquarie court after ‘bizarre’ destruction of items at Kmart

A Mid-North Coast law student has faced court to be punished for her “bizarre” and “unprovoked” destruction of products at a Kmart store.

Kmart Port Macquarie.

A Port Macquarie law student carried out a “bizarre” act of destruction at her local Kmart store and went back three weeks later to do it all again.

Caidan John Brown-Paul entered the store on April 30, walked to the pet section and placed an open bottle of car wash liquid on a shelf of soft toys, causing it to pour over the items, Port Macquarie Local Court was told.

The 19-year-old returned to the store on May 22 and repeated the act, damaging items.

No explanation was given in court for the offending.

Brown-Paul pleaded guilty to two charges of destroying or damaging property and she faced Port Macquarie Local Court on Wednesday for sentencing.

Brown-Paul’s lawyer told the court her client did not have underlying mental health issues and was studying a Bachelor of Criminal Justice at Charles Sturt University, with the intention of becoming a lawyer.

Caidan John Brown-Paul.

Brown-Paul, who works in administrationn, provided no explanation for the “unprovoked” and “unsophisticated” acts, which were caught on CCTV, her lawyer said.

“Her actions were out of character, particularly in light of her references, and she has significant prospects of rehabilitation,” she said.

Magistrate Georgina Darcy told the court she was presented with a “bizarre set of facts” with no explanation for the behaviour.

She said the maximum penalty for the offence was two years in prison.

“It was clearly your intention to take this liquid from Kmart and you walked over to the pet toys and left it so it dripped all over the shelves below, rendering those toys unable to be sold,” Ms Darcy said.

“Somebody immature may have found this funny.”

She said Brown-Paul appeared to have no “ethical objections to Kmart products”.

Port Macquarie Courthouse.

“And there is no suggestion of mental health issues – you must know the reason but you haven’t disclosed this to anyone,” Ms Darcy said.

Police state in court documents Brown-Paul “showed no signs of regret or remorse and she was unable to provide any logical reason for why she would act the way she did”.

She went into the store with “one associate” on the first occasion and two the next time.

Brown-Paul was found guilty of both charges without proceeding to a conviction and ordered to pay $855 compensation to Kmart.

She must be of good behaviour during a 12-month community release order.

Ms Darcy warned: “You will be unlikely to get this degree of leniency again and even with a non-conviction on your record there will be a lot of questions to be answered if you do intend to become a lawyer.”

Originally published as Caidan Brown-Paul faces Port Macquarie court after ‘bizarre’ destruction of items at Kmart