Bus shelters get a friend at court
A Christchurch judge has taken a stand for bus shelters everywhere.
Judge Stephen O’Driscoll has remanded a 23-year-old tagger for sentencing in April and warned that a serious penalty could be considered for his bus shelter tagging.
He granted bail to Corbin Richard Ellis, but ordered a pre-sentence report which will cover his suitability for sentences of home detention and community detention.
He also warned Ellis that was no indication of the sentence that might be imposed.
Defence counsel Cindy Lee had asked for the judge to consider another community-based sentence for Ellis after he had pleaded guilty to a charge of wilful damage by graffiti.
Then Judge O’Driscoll noticed that Ellis had apparently learned nothing from his previous convictions.
Probation said Ellis was already on a term of community work – having been given 50 hours for a previous breach of community work. He only had two hours to go to complete the sentence but he had reported for work twice this year, but had not reported on four occasions.
Miss Lee said Ellis accepted that his latest graffiti was “an act of stupidity”. This had been an isolated tag, while previous offending had been a “spree”.
But the judge said: “He keeps committing acts of stupidity.”
Police prosecutor Glenn Henderson said Ellis was seen by a police patrol using a black marker pen to write unknown graffiti on a bus shelter in Shirley.
When they spoke to him he had a black marker pen and a can of spray paint.
He told police: “I thought it would be okay because it was already covered in tags.”
Category: News
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