Judge slams $23,000 fine for dumping bilge water as ‘an absurdity’ and ‘wrong’

A MAN who emptied contaminated bilge water into bushland in Pinelands has copped an eye-watering $23,000 fine in a result a judge described as ‘an absurdity’ and ‘wrong’

Samuel Cunnah dumped bilge water from the duck pond in bushland.

A MAN who emptied contaminated bilge water into bushland in Pinelands has copped an eye-watering $23,000 fine in a result a judge described as “an absurdity” and “wrong”.

Sandblaster Samuel David Cunnah, 36, pleaded guilty in Darwin Local Court to intentionally polluting the environment after dumping the “dirty, stinking bilge water” behind Norblast Industrial Solutions where he worked in 2018.

The court heard as part of his duties Cunnah drove one of the company’s vacuum trucks to the Duck Pond where he siphoned the bilge water from a number of vessels and returned to work.

There Cunnah transferred the contaminated water to storage tanks but when they were full, he dumped the remainder in the nearby bushland.

Passers-by noticed the spill along with a number of dead and dying birds and contacted the Ark Animal Hospital who notified the Environment Protection Authority.

When Norblast director Todd McCourt found out about the spill, the pair set about cleaning up the mess and Cunnah’s lawyer, Peter Maley, said his client was remorseful for his mistake.

“He’s pretty embarrassed about this and he’s taken it seriously,” he said.

In handing Cunnah the mandatory minimum fine of $23,870, judge John Neill said “with the greatest respect” to the politicians who drafted the legislation “it is an absurdity and it is wrong”.

“If they had given the court some discretion we may have been able to come up with a penalty which is appropriate,” he said.

“Instead, I’m required by law to impose a fine of $23,870.

“I’m not satisfied that in imposing that (fine) I have been able to do justice in the way the court ought to be able to.”

NT NEWS special half price subscription deal: Just $3.50 a week

With costs and a victims levy included, Cunnah now owes the Government a total of $29,020.

McCourt also pleaded guilty to transporting waste without the required licences and illegally storing the contaminated soil on his company’s property.

.