By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
FORMER Berwick mayor Syd Pargeter OAM has been convicted and fined for cutting 29 cypress trees on his neighbour’s property in Harkaway.
When Dandenong Magistrates’ Court magistrate Lesley Fleming delivered her decision on Tuesday afternoon, Pargeter, 85, defiantly protested in court that he had permission from his neighbour to prune the trees’ crowns – which had been shading solar panels on Pargeter’s bordering shed.
“I’m a man of my word. I don’t think this case has been run fairly, with all respect to the court,” he said.
Pargeter was visibly unhappy with the magistrate’s verdict, accusing his neighbour of lying and saying that he was a “man of his word”.
He ignored several requests by Ms Fleming to cease his protest, criticising his former legal representatives for directing him not to give evidence in court during last month’s hearings.
“I don’t think it’s fair,” he said.
“I’m willing to swear on my family Bible I’ve had since I was 12 years old.
“I thought you were heading to be a judge.
“I’ll be appealing this in the interests of solar energy.”
In an effort to bring the court to order, Ms Fleming said she wouldn’t allow Pargeter to “give unsworn evidence from the bar table”, and that Pargeter had the right to appeal her decision.
She eventually handed down her sentence, rebuffing Pargeter’s written submission not to convict him.
He was found guilty of criminal damage, fined $1200 and ordered to pay $2280 costs.
Pargeter had argued in the submission that a conviction would jeopardise his passport rights to promote a football boot patent in Germany and the US.“This case has cost me a few thousand dollars and your ruling will cost me more and ruin me financially,” he told the court as he handed over the submission.
After the sentencing, Pargeter declared in court that the ruling was “a slap in the face to the solar industry” and asserted his right to free speech.
Earlier, Ms Fleming said she was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the pruning had caused damage to the trees’ structure.
“I’m satisfied that the accused didn’t have a lawful excuse and didn’t have permission to cut the trees.”
The court found Pargeter had hired a third party to lop the top half off a 40-metre section of cypress pines which were originally about four metres tall and presented a receipt for $79.10 to his neighbour.
In his record of police interview, Pargeter said he had a verbal agreement with his neighbour – something the neighbour refuted on oath in court last month.
“If I was going to have my trees pruned or cut in any way, I’d have my own contractors do it. I’d not involve Mr Pargeter at all,” the neighbour said in court.
Ms Fleming said the victim had grown the trees partly to conceal Pargeter’s property.
“He considered (Pargeter) an unsatisfactory neighbour.”Arborists had stated in court the pruning had been done in a “sub-standard” fashion.
They expected the trees to grow back with vigour. However one arborist said that the “massacred” trees would “never look the same again”.
Prior to Tuesday’s sentencing, Pargeter had dismissed his legal team with whom he had several public clashes inside and outside the courtroom during last month’s hearings.
At one point, he called them a “pack of bastards” after they prevailed against his wish for a last-minute witness.
Pargeter’s neighbour said outside court the decision was “correct and just”.
