Harry O
23rd Sep 2013, 18:50
A 71 year old OAP has been ordered to pay £162k for damage caused after he attacked a Tiger attack helicopter with a garden mattock whatever that is?
Its going to take him a few years to pay it out of his pension.
The Australian (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/activist-avoids-jail-for-helicopter-attack/story-fn3dxiwe-1226702355810)
A PEACE activist has avoided imprisonment for his role in damaging an Australian army helicopter in central Queensland.
A Rockhampton District Court jury on Thursday found Graeme Dunstan, 71, guilty of damaging Commonwealth property at Rockhampton airport in 2011.
Fellow activist Bryan Law used a garden mattock to smash a small hole in a Tiger helicopter on July 21, 2011.
Law died earlier this year.
Dunstan drove Law to the airport and opened the airport gate.
Judge Nick Samios sentenced Dunstan to two years' imprisonment, suspended immediately, and placed him on a three-year good behaviour bond.
Dunstan was ordered to pay $162,681.63 in reparation.
The court heard the helicopter was grounded for four months.
Dunstan said he had no regrets about the attack, which was inspired by a line from the Bible predicting the end of war: "They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks".
"We did manage to put the helicopter on trial and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on trial," Dunstan told AAP.
He said money would be deducted from his pension payments to pay off the reparation order, but given the size of the sum it was unlikely the full amount would be recovered.
He's been bonded on a good behaviour order.
Its going to take him a few years to pay it out of his pension.
The Australian (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/activist-avoids-jail-for-helicopter-attack/story-fn3dxiwe-1226702355810)
A PEACE activist has avoided imprisonment for his role in damaging an Australian army helicopter in central Queensland.
A Rockhampton District Court jury on Thursday found Graeme Dunstan, 71, guilty of damaging Commonwealth property at Rockhampton airport in 2011.
Fellow activist Bryan Law used a garden mattock to smash a small hole in a Tiger helicopter on July 21, 2011.
Law died earlier this year.
Dunstan drove Law to the airport and opened the airport gate.
Judge Nick Samios sentenced Dunstan to two years' imprisonment, suspended immediately, and placed him on a three-year good behaviour bond.
Dunstan was ordered to pay $162,681.63 in reparation.
The court heard the helicopter was grounded for four months.
Dunstan said he had no regrets about the attack, which was inspired by a line from the Bible predicting the end of war: "They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks".
"We did manage to put the helicopter on trial and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on trial," Dunstan told AAP.
He said money would be deducted from his pension payments to pay off the reparation order, but given the size of the sum it was unlikely the full amount would be recovered.
He's been bonded on a good behaviour order.