Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court: Paul Rieniets and Rafik Nagy George front court

A Brighton dad’s bid to do something nice for kids during lockdown landed him in hot water with the local council.

A man was fined by Bayside City Council for digging a minor hole in Elsternwick Park for neighbourhood children to use as a BMX jump.

There are always plenty of colourful characters in the dock at Moorabbin Magistrates Court. And it was no exception this week. Check out some of the cases before the court.

Hole digging dad v Bayside Council

A man was fined by Bayside City Council for digging a hole in Elsternwick Park for neighbourhood children to use as a BMX jump.

A Brighton father-of-three faced the Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court over digging a hole in a local park.

Paul Rieniets pleaded guilty to damaging and defacing municipal property during the 2021 lockdown in order to enhance a BMX jump for neighbourhood children to use in their down time.

After being confronted by a council officer, Mr Rieniets said he stopped the minor excavation.

“A council officer approached us while I was digging,” Mr Rieniets said.

“He told us to stop, and I did. He didn’t indicate that he was going to fine us, but a month later we received the fine in the mail.”

Mr Rieniets said although he was pleading guilty, he was “disappointed” in the council’s approach to the matter.

“I just don’t think this deserves a financial penalty,” he said.

“We were just trying to do something nice for our kids and other kids in the area — we were in the middle of lockdown and this was one of the only activities kids in the area had to do.”

Magistrate Mary-Anne MacCallum agreed, despite Bayside City Council seeking to fine Mr Rieniets for both digging the hole and the costs of legal proceedings.

“I accept your guilty plea today is evidence of your remorse,” Ms MacCallum said.

“Your offending is definitely on the lower end of the scale, and it was to the benefit of children.”

According to Mr Rieniets, despite receiving the fine, the council has not been out to amend the damage in the year since it occurred.

Bayside City Council city planning and amenity director Matthew Cripps said in most cases “council takes an educational approach to discouraging damage”.

“We conduct regular maintenance across all open space where damage or safety hazards exist,” he said.

“Council officers issued an infringement notice to Mr Rieniets for causing the damage.”

Mr Rieniets was charged with damaging/defacing a municipal space, with no financial penalty and no order to pay the prosecution’s costs.

Centrelink Swindler

Also appearing in Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court was a Yarragon South man facing fraud charges, after swindling more than $11,000 of Centrelink payments under two separate identities.

Rafik Nagy George, also known as Rafik Nagy George Morad, used two identities to claim the JobSeeker payment, the coronavirus supplement payment and the crisis payment for a national health emergency between August 2020 and January 2021.

The court heard the 27-year-old father-of-two was let go from his job in April 2020, before turning to drugs and alcohol to cope with the stresses of the pandemic before his offending began.

George pleaded guilty to obtaining a financial advantage for himself, knowing he was not eligible to receive the financial advantage by using dual identities.

George made claims under the identity Rafik Nagy George 11 times, and under the name Rafik Nagy Morad 12 times over the six month period, hoodwinking Centrelink out of a total of $11,607.25.

Each time he applied for a payment, George agreed the declared the information he gave to be correct.

After an internal review of his account activity, the deception was discovered by Centrelink in January 2021.

Ms MacCallum said the offending was “serious, due to the amount”.

“This was a very dishonest act. Cheating the welfare system will not be tolerated by the court,” Ms MacCallum said.

Ms MacCallum acknowledged George’s guilty plea and payments back to Centrelink as an “expression of his remorse and contrition”.

George was ordered to pay back the remaining $10,537.25 and the legal costs for Centrelink, and must abide by a community corrections order for 15 months.

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