Man fined $1500 after ripping home apart in criminal damage charge

A man has been fined $1500, along with court costs, after pleading guilty to criminal damage and destruction of property after causing $10,000 worth of damage to a rural property in Quinninup. Nicholas David Fleeton, 30, faced the Manjimup Magistrates Court on Thursday, accused of criminal damage or destruction of property, relating to an incident in which a property in Quinninup was damaged between November 11 and November 13. The court was told the property had been vacated and was being cleaned when Fleeton and a friend went to the property. The pair remained there when the cleaners left. It was also told that they stayed in the property for two nights, with the cleaner returning on November 13 to find the property badly damaged. The damage included a bathroom door ripped from the hinges, a broken mirror, doors removed from the fridge and freezer, the wall oven partially ripped from the wall, a 40cm hole punched in the laundry wall and a smashed laundry door. The damage was valued at about $10,000. The court was told Fleeton had been “drinking heavily” and “could not remember what happened” during the incident. Fleeton plead guilty to the charge and was given a $1500 fine, along with $141.50 in court costs, by Magistrate Stephen Butcher.