George Lavrentiadis has been handed a suspended jail sentence after demolishing two historic seaside shacks at Deep Creek, South Australia, causing what the court described as the destruction of “long-held family history.”
The 51-year-old father pleaded guilty to two counts of property damage after he was paid $5000 by US-based celebrity realtor Julian Galbraith Johnston to tear down the structures, which allegedly obstructed Johnston’s coastal view from a nearby $2 million property under construction.
Judge Heath Barklay condemned Lavrentiadis’ actions, stating he “destroyed that piece of history” and failed to seek proper permissions. “To have failed to conduct some basic inquiries of your own … was, in my view, reprehensible,” the judge said.
The shacks, built on Crown land, were at the centre of an ongoing legal dispute over their status. Johnston denies authorising the demolition, claiming he only paid for debris removal.
Victim Barry Robertson, whose family owned one of the shacks since 1957, told the court the demolition had “erased four generations of memories,” adding it would now cost over $400,000 to rebuild.
Lavrentiadis was sentenced to one year, one month and ten days in prison, suspended on the condition he enter an 18-month good behaviour bond.
Source: The Advertiser.
