A prolific Illawarra graffiti artist busted scrawling his signature tag on more than half a dozen train carriages between Kiama and Sydney has been convicted of property damage offences in court and hit with a whopping $20,000 compensation bill.
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Matthew Francis West might be his given name but the ex-Warrawong now Flinders boilermaker was better known in graffiti circles by his signature tag 'DAVE', which began appearing on so much public property that NSW Police and Sydney Trains set up a dedicated task force to investigate its origins.
Documents tendered to Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday said CCTV footage showed a clean train departing Minnamurra Railway Station at 7.12pm on September 9 last year and head towards the Kiama stabling yard.
A guard witnessed three people spray painting tags on the carriages as it lay stationary in the stabling yard, one of which was a 17 metre-long 'DAVE' mural painted in purple and green.
The trio were seen bolting up the rail corridor less than half an hour later.
On Christmas Eve, West and a second person were seen grafitting the words DAVE and ERAS on the side of carriages parked in tunnels at Bondi Junction, while on January 9, West was joined by two others as they spray painted the words ZOMBIE and DAVE on carriages parked at the same location.
West struck again two days later, tagging the entire length of a 20 metre-long carriage at Kiama Railway Station.
On January 17, West and another mate used pink and white spray on carriages at Bondi Junction.
Two months later, three large murals of the words DAVE, SIRE and KEEP were painted on a stationary train at Kingsgrove just after 6am, but it appears West wasn't entirely happy with his work this time, sending a Whats App message to one of his fellow taggers later that morning complaining about the quality of his own workmanship.
"I'm disappointed with that car," West wrote.
His friend replied "don't beat yourself up bro, it was spot on. We finished".
West put another tag on a train at Martin Place on the morning of May 1, but didn't seem to have time to finish his artwork and was seen adding some "final touches" to the design once the train stopped at Helensburgh Railway Station five hours later.
Police arrested West in June, discovering more than 100 cans of spray paint at his home and a sketchbook containing dozens of different designs for his tag.
He was charged with 14 graffiti and trespassing-related offences, to which he pleaded guilty in court on Tuesday.
Defence lawyer Graeme Morrison said West had had a difficult upbringing marred by his father's drug addiction and he had used graffiti "as an escape".
However, he noted West had begun trying to use his talents for good, having recently gotten in touch with Scout groups and offered his artistic services to paint murals to cover up any graffiti on their buildings etc.
Magistrate Jillian Kiely accepted West was on the road to turning his life around and that he was genuinely remorseful for what he'd done.
She sentenced West to to two-year community corrections order, which includes 150 hours of unpaid community service work.
He was also fined a total of $1,320 and ordered to pay Sydney Trains $19,892 in compensation.