Man who let off firecrackers in Shoalwater carpark ‘for a laugh’ fined $100

At Rockingham Magistrates Court on August 29, Kevin Llewellyn Patrick Ford was convicted in his absence under section 55 of the criminal code.

The prosecutor said Ford was sitting in his car at the IGA Shoalwater carpark when he let go of two firecrackers out the window of his car. A member of the public thought they were gunshots and called police.

When police arrived, Ford told them he had two friends who worked at the nearby bottleshop and would have got a laugh.

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Magistrate Michael Wheeler mused that things had become too serious. “The fun police have got rid of things over the years,” he said. “They (firecrackers) used to be allowed in my day and we used them for fun… boys blow their fingers off with them. I suppose people blowing their fingers off and the odd letterbox, they had to be banned.”

He ordered they be destroyed and fined Ford $100.

“I order they be destroyed by being lit and used in an appropriate manner,” he said. “Yes the fun police…”