NAMED: South Burnett vandals found guilty of wilful damage
From a man who defaced Kingaroy’s hard-earned Big Peanut to a simmering feud going up in literal flames, here are the South Burnett vandals sentenced in court. SEE THE FULL LIST:
Police & Courts
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From a man who scrawled his name in spray paint across Kingaroy’s brand new Big Peanut to a simmering feud between two men going up in literal flames, the South Burnett has seen no shortage of guilty pleas to wilful property damage.
Here are the vandals who have recently been found guilty of wilful damage in the region’s courts:
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 pleaded guilty to 15 charges, including 12 counts of wilful damage by graffiti, and possessing marijuana, drug utensils and graffiti supplies.
He was ordered to pay $4000 restitution to his victims and complete 40 hours of unpaid graffiti removal, and issued with a $250 fine.
A repeat offender narrowly avoided jail for a public brawl in a Kingaroy shop and vandalising property at a medical centre, despite police saying he’d already had countless warnings.
Zechariah Kember, 19, was charged when he stopped by the South Burnett Medical Centre and began punching the fence, causing hundreds of dollars of damage to the panels.
He later told police he couldn’t remember it because he was drunk.
Lawyer Jay Rose said her client had significant mental health issues, including schizophrenia, post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression. She said Kember regularly drank alcohol while medicated, which caused problems.
The court was told the Kingaroy man was on two suspended jail sentences at the time, both for seriously assaulting police through spitting or biting.
Kember pleaded guilty to public nuisance and wilful damage. He was fined $500 and ordered to pay $250 in compensation for the fence.
A Kingaroy man faced court after assaulting a ‘good Samaritan’ with a windscreen cleaner and damaging his car.
Cameron Johnson was confronted by a man who said he witnessed him throw a bottle at a woman’s car and hurl abuse at her as she drove past.
Johnson told the victim he was “gonna get it”, picked up a windscreen cleanser and whacked a dent in the driver’s side door before throwing it at the man.
He was arrested and taken to the police station where he returned a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15.
Johnson pleaded guilty to wilful damage and common assault while adversely affected by an intoxicating substance. He was sentenced to 80 hours of community service.
A Kingaroy man was chased all the way to the local police station by his victim after a longstanding feud exploded into literal flames.
Reyce Tyrone Liedtke was feuding with his victim for weeks when threats to light the man’s car on fire became a reality on September 23.
After quickly extinguishing the flames with a garden hose, the car owner went in pursuit of the 21-year-old offender.
Liedtke ran to the police station and was punched by his victim on arrival.
He pleaded guilty to wilful and unlawfully setting fire to a motor vehicle and was sentenced to two years in jail.
He was due to be released on parole on May 23.
A Murgon man was fined $1000 for kicking a police car door off its hinges and using handcuffs to scratch his name into the holding cell window, causing permanent damage.
Police were detaining Tyson John Edwin Hanks in relation to a return to prison warrant when the 28-year-old kicked the police car door off its hinge.
The court also heard once in the watch-house Hanks used handcuffs to scratch his name into the window of the holding cell.
Hanks pleaded guilty in Murgon Magistrates Court to two counts of wilful damage and was fined $1000.
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Originally published as NAMED: South Burnett vandals found guilty of wilful damage
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