By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
A GRAFFITI vandal convicted for tagging a railway station car park and an early learning centre has been told he wouldn’t last long in jail by a Dandenong magistrate.
Zachary Hardman, 21, pleaded guilty to allegedly causing – in the company of a friend – about $4286 in clean-up bills for spray-painting their respective tags ‘Azum’ and ‘Zilt’ in May last year.
Images of the tags were found by police on Hardman’s mobile phone. He and his friend were found with three backpacks of marker pens, spray-paint cans and torches.
Their vandalism included fences and a tunnel at Narre Warren railway car park, property in Deblin Drive, Hallam and a Clydesdale Square toilet, Cranbourne.
A month later, a newly built early learning centre in Dandenong South required a $1760 clean-up from spray-paint graffiti.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen convicted and ordered Hardman to pay back Casey Council and the early learning centre more than $6000 in clean-up costs with a community corrections order for 150 hours of unpaid community work.
He said Hardman would probably be refused bail and remanded in custody if he offended again.
“Looking at you, you won’t last very long in jail.”
He admonished Hardman for “walking around with a ski-mask on your face at night (and) spray-painting”.
“I hope (Corrections Victoria) put you on a graffiti clean-up group so you realise how difficult it is to clean it up and what a widespread problem it is.
“Everywhere you were graffiting has a high public profile. It’s pretty child-like to put paint everywhere. I’m sure you don’t do it in your bedroom… so don’t do it on others’ property.”
Mr Vandersteen said he had a “slant against criminal damage” and the “sense of entitlement for people to destroy other people’s property”.
“In Melbourne all you see is graffiti. I can’t overstate how it effects people’s perceptions of public safety.”
He said Hardman was “not a bad person” who had endured a “terrible tragedy” in his childhood, but fortunately had the loving support of his wider family – namely his aunt who he lives with.
