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A court has heard that a man found guilty of spraying graffiti on a shopping mall door "was addicted" to the habit.
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Jacob Richard Hyratt, 23, of Albion Park, pleaded guilty to one count each of possess graffiti implement with intent and intentionally mark premises without consent - aggravated.
Magistrate Geraldine Beattie said Hyratt had sprayed graffiti on a fire door on the Goulburn Square shopping centre with black paint on June 7. Police later found him with the paint can on nearby Clifford Street.
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Hyratt appeared in court unrepresented.
Under questioning, he told Magistrate Beattie he was remorseful for his actions and "wouldn't be doing it again."
"How do I know that? The reason I ask is that you told police you were addicted to doing it (graffiti)," Magistrate Beattie said.
"That's a good question," Hyratt replied.
The magistrate said she was struggling with why the accused "thought it was a good idea to spray paint" the fire door.
"I'm unsure. It's a silly habit I picked up on this journey of life," Hyratt said.
He told the court he was on Centrelink benefits, was currently living with his sister in Berrigan but resided "here, there and everywhere".
Magistrate Beattie said it was the first matters of that nature on Hyratt's record but there were other offences for which he'd been ordered to "stay away from drugs and alcohol".
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Hyratt said he'd applied for rehabilitation at Odyssey House and was "staying in touch with his DOCS worker".
The magistrate told the court both charges were "very serious".
"Why should you inflict on the community what you want to do and put the mall owners to the time, trouble and expense to remove graffiti?" she asked.
"Paint by all means but do it legally. There seems to be more going on in your life than you're telling me."
She asked Hyratt whether he'd noticed that there wasn't much graffiti around Goulburn.
"It's very different to other places and that's what the community wants," Magistrate Beattie said.
However she accepted Hyratt's early guilty plea, his attempts at rehabilitation and that he had "no ability to pay a fine".
Magistrate Beattie imposed a conditional release order that Hyratt be of good behaviour for six months and ordered that the spray paint can be forfeited.
"If you breach the (conditional) order, you will be back before the court," she told Hyratt.
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