Taggers on end of spray in court

TWO men caught spraying graffiti tags on a shopfront in Norlane copped a spray of a different kind when they faced a Geelong court yesterday.

Magistrate Peter Mellas told vandals Justin Wall, 24, and William Smith, 23, their late-night exploits at Labuan Square were “anti-social” and “pathetic”.

“It’s numbskull offending. It’s pointless. It annoys people,” Mr Mellas said.

“It’s defacing an area where people are already living hard, and (you) just add to the mix. “It’s just pathetic.” Prosecutor Senior Constable David Vanderpol told Geelong Magistrates’ Court the men were facing a shop wall in the Norlane shopping centre after 1.30am on May 11 when a police vehicle approached from behind.

When officers shone their headlights on the men they immediately put their hands in their pockets and walked from the scene, revealing fresh tags “Bair” and “Wreq” on the wall.

They were stopped in the adjoining carpark, where it was found they each had paint on their hands and spray paint cans in their pockets.

Despite the compelling evidence, the court heard Wall, of Norlane, initially tried to deny responsibility for the vandalism, explaining he worked as a spray painter.

However, like Smith — who lives in Wallington — he soon admitted fault, and both pleaded guilty to a charge of intentionally damaging property in court yesterday.

With no prior convictions to their names, the men were put on a good behaviour undertaking by Mr Mellas.

But not before they copped one final spray.

“It’s anti-social. It’s meaningless. If you’ve got trouble filling in your time go and find a hobby, don’t go around defacing people’s property,” the magistrate told them.