Al-anwar Newspaper English news in Australia
A man who chucked a tantrum after a parking disagreement in a Sydney shopping centre and slashed a man’s car tyres, has been slammed for his disproportionate response.
Cameron Byrnes, 26, fronted Picton Local Court on Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to intentionally or recklessly damaging property.
Court documents reveal on March 14, a man drove to Mt Annan Shopping Centre and drove through an empty bay to park in the spot directly in front of Byrnes.
As he parked, Byrnes, driving a blue Mazda, attempted to reverse into the same spot before getting out of his car and yelling at the man.
“That was my parking spot,” Byrnes shouted before swearing and calling the victim names.
Byrne later bent over behind the vehicle and slashed the two driver’s side tyres, which was caught on CCTV.
On March 20, officers tracked Byrnes to an address in Narellan Vale, where he told them he could not recall an argument. Byrnes told officers he gets annoyed when other vehicles drive through parking spots to enter another spot.
Lawyer Sean Bugeia said Byrnes did not purchase a knife to slash the tyres but already had it on him after work. Mr Bugeia said his client knew it was a “stupid decision” and was in the process of accessing psychological help.
Magistrate David Degnan said the slashing incident was aggravated as Byrnes had been on a conditional release order then.
“I’m one of those people who believe it [a conditional release order] is not worth the paper it’s written on if there’s not a sanction for breaching it,” he said. “This behaviour is just quite frankly way out of proportion to the situation that confronted you.”
Byrnes was sentenced to a community corrections order for 12 months, fined $750, and ordered to compensate the victim $622.
He was convicted and disqualified for three months for breaching the conditional release order for driving with an illicit drug in his system.
