The former boyfriend of model Nicky Watson today pleaded guilty to tagging and was ordered to pay $200 to charity.
Shelton Hedley Woolright, 25-year-old drummer in the Auckland band Blindspott, pleaded guilty to wilfully damaging a wall in St Kevin's Arcade, Karangahape Rd on July 14 with a marker pen.
Judge Avinash Deobhakta at the Auckland District Court discharged him without conviction after defence counsel Jo Wickliffe said that a police record could affect his ability to travel abroad with the band.
He was ordered to pay $200 to the Methodist Mission.
Ms Watson, who was reportedly with Woolright at the time, was initially put in a police car but was released without being asked to go to the police station.
The pair had been at the opening of a graffiti exhibition at Disrupt Gallery in K Rd.
Woolright told the judge he was walking a friend to a car following the exhibition when he was given marker pen which he foolishly used.
The judge said he doubted that a graffiti offence would stop Woolright travelling, but agreed to discharge him without conviction.
He said he had no sympathy for people who used other people's property for their "artistic or unartistic" work.
Michelle Kidd of the Methodist Mission Northern told the judge she would give Woolright a "rark up".
Outside the court she said that Woolright was a "good boy" who worked with cancer children.
The $200 donation would be used to help feed the homeless.
Judge Deobhakta told Woolright to keep the receipt, as he would be entitled to a 30 per cent tax deduction on the donation.
