Toowoomba graffiti activists ordered to do community service and remove graffiti

The magistrate said he would have liked to have imposed harsher penalties but his hands were tied by the legislation.

LEGISLATION saved two graffiti vandals who sprayed painted activist slogans on a number of Toowoomba CBD businesses from a harsher penalty.

Magistrate Howard Osborne told 21-year-olds Callum Thomas Ford and Lachlan Rigby McConville that he would have imposed harsher penalties but for the legislation that set a maximum 40-hour community service order by way of graffiti removal order as penalty.

“You’re both pests,” Mr Osborne told the pair.

“People have got better things to do than clean up your mess.”

The two former Downlands College students pleaded guilty to spray painting slogans in support of refugees on a number of CBD buildings overnight November 3 into the early hours of November 4.

Police prosecutor Narelle Lowe told Toowoomba Magistrates Court CCTV cameras had recorded three people alighting from a white Ford Ranger in the CBD late on November 3.

The three wore masks across their faces to disguise their identities, she said.

The trio were then seen to spray paint a stencil of bound hands and slogans such as “free the refugees” and “free the KP120” on the walls of businesses.

One of the first businesses to fall victim to the group’s activist vandalism was The Chronicle building in Neil St which had “Climate Denialism” and “Free The Press” sprayed across the building’s front entrance, Senior Constable Lowe said.

Other businesses to be targeted that night were Cobb & Co Museum, the Masonic Lodge and Christian Science Centre in Neil St, The Empire Theatre, Toowoomba Central City Plaza apartment building, The Mills Precinct in Ruthven St and a Trevor Watts MP billboard at the corner of Ruthven St and Chalk Drive.

Vandals tagged several buildings in Neil St overnight, including the Empire Theatre, the Christian Science Reading Room, the Masonic Lodge and the Toowoomba Chronicle.

Snr Const. Lowe said police executed a search warrant at a residence on November 7 which found paint stained clothing and a stencil on which fingerprints and DNA pointed to the group.

Total cost of the clean up was $3523 which was sought in restitution to be shared by the three, she said.

The third co-accused was due to front court in February, the court heard.

Ford and McConville pleaded guilty to blackening or masking their faces to disguise with intent to commit an offence and eight counts of wilful damage by graffiti.

“What’s their problem?” Magistrate Osborne asked defence solicitor Jag MacDonald, of MacDonald Law.

Mr MacDonald said the pair had made a “youthful mistake” and accepted their wrong doing.

Mr Osborne ordered the convictions not be recorded, ordered each do 40 hours community service by way of graffiti removal order and ordered each defendant pay one-third of the $3523 restitution.

Outside court, the pair said they felt for the businesses concerned but they still supported the campaign for refugees which they said was an important issue.