Water bore drilling dispute ends in concrete resolution

BELIEVING he had been underpaid by $6000, a Toowoomba water bore driller poured concrete down a bore he'd drilled at Mt Rascal.

The water driller admitted pouring concrete down the bore because he claimed he was underpaid. Picture: Contributed

A DISPUTE over payment for a water bore on Toowoomba's outskirts had the driller "capping" the bore and the matter ending up in a city court.

Gavin John Corley had a verbal agreement last year to drill a water bore on the complainant's Mt Rascal property for $30,000, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

The complainant had paid $24,000 for the bore but a dispute arose over outstanding $6000, police prosecutor Rowan Brewster-Webb said.

When that money went unpaid, Corley had gone back to the property and had concrete poured down the bore, leaving a letter saying he had "decommissioned" the bore, he said.

The complainant ought compensation of $2485 the cost of equipment to recommission the bore, Mr Brewster-Webb said.

Corley, 52, pleaded guilty to unlawfully entering farming land and wilful damage.

Duty solicitor Kyna Morice said the matter was a civil dispute which was going through the civil court and asked that no compensation be ordered.

By the police case it was conceded that the complainant had only paid $24,000 of the $30,000 agreed, she said.

Her client was medicated for depression but was off that medication at the time and was remorseful for what had taken place, Ms Morice said.

Magistrate Kay Ryan told Corley that the proper course was to leave it to the civil court.

"Taking the law into your own hands is never the thing to do," she said.

Corley was fined $700 with no conviction recorded.

Noting the ongoing civil case, Ms Ryan declined to order any compensation.

Originally published as Water bore drilling dispute ends in concrete resolution