Graffiti-accused told ‘engage your brain’

A spray painter who scrawled the acronym “FTP” (f... the police) on the counter of Rockingham Police Station has been told by a magistrate to “try and engage” his brain.

The man appeared in Rockingham Magistrate’s Court on Monday morning charged with one count of damaging property by graffiti.

The court was told on the morning of December 28, the man went to the station to sign paperwork, but while waiting, he wrote on the counter in black pen. The incident was captured on CCTV.

When asked by police why he had scrawled the graffiti, he told them he had been “bored”.

In court, the man told Magistrate Leanne Atkins the acronym had already been on the counter and he had just “coloured it in”.

Ms Atkins questioned his actions, asking him “how foolish could you be?”

“Remember, when you attend a police station you are being watched and observed,” she said.

“Try and engage your brain and not daydream.”

The man pleaded guilty to the graffiti and a pre-sentence report was ordered.