Mindless graffiti

By Monique Ebrington
The Healesville resident and handyman spends most of his working days painting over graffiti scrawled on private properties.
Through his job Mr Harry has dealt with stone and stick throwers, he has been threatened and has even found his own name written on a popular graffiti spot he cleans regularly.
Mr Harry says he doesn’t care about losing the money he earns from cleaning off graffiti, he just wants people to stop vandalising Healesville.
“If I came here every day and this stuff [graffiti] wasn’t here and I didn’t make a cent, I’d be rapt. They’re stuffing (up) our beautiful town,” Mr Harry said.
Mr Harry said it got to the stage where he offered a $50 reward to anybody who came to him with positive proof of a person’s name and their tag.
“When I started offering the $50 reward the graffiti stopped dead for weeks,” he said.
He hopes that community groups that share the same concerns about graffiti will help him collate a pool of money as incentive to stop the vandalism.
Catching many vandals in the act during the day, Mr Harry said he feared many vandals had no regard for the consequences of having a criminal conviction to their name.
Healesville Sergeant Rod Luke said getting caught doing graffiti could mean an on-the-spot fine or going to court, depending on whether an individual had prior offences.
Sgt Luke said that fines ranged from an on-the-spot fine of $227 for wilful damage or a $567 on-the-spot fine for a person in possession of graffiti implements in or around public transport.
He said that a court appearance could mean individuals were put into programs to go around and clean graffiti, or ultimately could face jail.
Sgt Luke said that offenders should also be aware of the long-term consequences of having a criminal conviction to their name.
“A lot of employers insist on having a police check conducted on you when you’re going for job,” Sgt Luke said.
“A criminal conviction will also hinder an individual when they apply for a visa for certain countries.
“You have to have police checks conducted and certain offences will limit travel options to some countries.”
“So, if you’ve got a conviction for graffiti, or any other matter, it’s going to limit your options for job applications and travel.”