By Lachlan Abbott
A Frenchman who scaled a Melbourne CBD high-rise without a harness during a free-climbing stunt last week has been sentenced to seven days in prison but will be released on Tuesday with time already served.
Anthony Andolfo, a French national on a 12-month tourist working visa in Australia, drew stunned spectators and emergency services when he climbed the facade of the Avani Melbourne Central Residences on A’Beckett Street about 7.50am last Tuesday.
Wearing a backpack and a GoPro, and using only climbing chalk, Andolfo reached the top of the 56-storey apartment building, where emergency services and police were waiting. He was handcuffed and led away to a police van.
When asked why he climbed the tower, he told reporters gathered at the bottom of the building: “Just because I can.”
Andolfo, who spent his 30th birthday on remand, was charged with reckless conduct endangering life, reckless conduct endangering serious injury, public nuisance, and entering private property without a lawful excuse.
On Tuesday, the reckless conduct endangering life and public nuisance charges were withdrawn. Andolfo pleaded guilty to the remaining two offences.
The climber was escorted by police from the CBD building once he reached the top.Credit: Nine News
Andolfo’s lawyer said this was his first time in custody anywhere, although French police had once arrested him briefly after he climbed another building, before he was released without charge.
The court heard he was remorseful for his actions and had selected the 60 A’Beckett Street building to climb so he could have a “moment of tranquillity” at the top after the challenging ascent.
“He wasn’t chasing fame. He wasn’t chasing notoriety,” his lawyer, Michael Haralambous, said. “He accepts the inconveniences to emergency services, and he regrets it.”
The court heard Andfolo, whose registered Australian address was in the Gippsland town of Newry, was travelling Australia in a campervan with a friend, picking up work on dairy farms and other sites. He had a flight booked to leave Australia and visit his sister in Panama the day after his CBD stunt.
The court heard he was a boilermaker by trade. A fine was discussed as a possible penalty.
Another Frenchman, Hugo Frohlinger, was charged after filming the climb with a drone from the base of the building.
Andolfo’s lawyer argued the climb was filmed to help him assess his technique, but magistrate Jonathan Klestadt rejected this and said it was partly to bolster his reputation in the climbing community.
He sentenced him to seven days imprisonment, meaning Andolfo would be released later on Tuesday after time already served.
“The presence of an accomplice who filmed your behaviour, in my view, shows the purpose was, at least in part, of self-promotion,” Klestadt said.
Klestadt acknowledged Andolfo’s experience in custody was likely “sufficiently unpleasant” and he was unlikely to re-offend in Australia again. But he said the court needed to denounce the behaviour, so it wasn’t dismissed as simply “youthful high jinks”.
“Nobody engaging in risky endeavours, be it legal or illegal, is invincible,” Klestadt told the climber. “Accidents happen. Misjudgments are made.”
Andolfo watched the hearing silently via video link from Port Phillip Prison in a green T-shirt and thanked the magistrate as the hearing concluded.
“There are plenty of mountains in the world to climb, Mr Andolfo,” the magistrate said. “I would suggest that you restrict your climbing adventures to natural terrain.”
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