Four men who pleaded guilty in the Collie Magistrates Court to trespassing on areas restricted to the public have been handed spent convictions.
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A 53-year-old man pleaded guilty to entering a restricted area in the Stirling Dam catchment area on January 5.
The man told the court through a statement that he had been riding his bike in the area and decided to take a shortcut through bushland.
Magistrate Belinda Coleman handed the man a $50 fine for the offence.
A 24-year-old Collie man was fined after he pleaded guilty to entering the restricted area of Stirling Dam on August 2, 2017.
Water Corporation lawyer Conor Breheny told the court the man had gained access by driving off-road to avoid a locked boom gate.
Mr Breheny said the man, who was found in the area with another man and four dogs in the back of his ute, had told officers he was in the area to try and find his dog.
The man was fined $200 for the three offences stemming from the incident – entering a prohibited zone, allowing an animal to be in a catchment area and driving a vehicle off-road in a catchment area.
A 69-year-old man was fined $250 after pleading guilty to entering an area where water service works were being undertaken at Harris Dam on March 27.
The man told the court he didn’t realise that the area had been closed to the public and that he was committing an offence.
A 47-year-old man was fined $150 after he pleaded guilty to entering a restricted zone at Samson Brook Dam to go fishing on July 6.
Mr Breheny said Water Corporation officers had found two men with fishing rods in the area, who admitted they deliberately ignored the restricted access signage because they ‘just wanted to go fishing’.
