What else is there to do on a rainy day and works been cancelled?
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Tynan Cropp's decision to go spray painting with two other men at a Springhill Road underpass proved a costly day off, after he was fined $1,530 at Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday.
As rain lashed the Illawarra on April 5, police received a radio job about "youths" graffitiing a rail corridor bordering Coniston and Port Kembla, with the dog unit called upon for help.
All trains in the area were halted while police entered the corridor and saw Cropp's accused co-offender Noah Jones standing by a pylon holding a spray paint can.
Cropp, 22, was standing about 15 metres away, while Ari Agung Forrester, 28, was nearby.
All three began moving south when they saw police, with Cropp running towards the bushes. He stopped when police requested him to get down before police handcuffed the group.
Cropp was seen having pictures taken of his hands, which had paint splatters on them, as he admitted to vandalising the pylon walls of the bridge.
He pointed to a bag and esky which had his spray paint cans and nozzles inside, with a further seven spray paint cans found in his vehicle parked nearby.
The pylons bore words about two metres tall, 'BURG', 'NOZIE', 'YEAR', 'BURGER' and other indecipherable words, but Cropp didn't identify his tags.
He pleaded guilty to going onto running lines, intentionally marking a premises without prescribed consent, and possessing graffiti implements with intent to contravene graffiti control legislation.
Defence lawyer Cameron Meaney said Cropp made the "unfortunate decision" to go spray painting on a rainy day, with his work as a tiler cancelled due to the conditions.
"He's made a terrible mistake," he said.
Mr Meaney noted his client, who is from Corrimal but runs his own tiling business in Sydney, was the only one out of the three who made immediate admissions to the vandalism.
Magistrate Michael Ong questioned Cropp's decision to go spray painting in the rain rather than staying home with his partner and child before he issued the fines.
Grace Crivellaro
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
