news, crime, james richardson
A suburban nudist who terrorised a woman with “disgusting” behaviour has narrowly avoided jail, with a magistrate opting to impose fines and community service instead. James William Richardson, 64, appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court for sentence on Tuesday, having previously pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent exposure and one count of contravening a court order. An agreed statement of facts reveals that the Calwell man exposed himself to a woman who spotted him sitting naked in public view on his property as she drove past in May last year. Following this incident, the woman began often finding urine stains and “clear globs of liquid” on the side of her garage. She suspected the mysterious substance was semen, but it turned out to actually be Vaseline and oil that Richardson was smearing on the wall out of spite. Another woman also had the misfortune of seeing Richardson completely naked in his front yard in February this year while taking her bins out, later telling police the experience had made her feel uncomfortable. When quizzed in April about his behaviour, Richardson admitted to walking into his front yard in the nude “on multiple occasions”. “The defendant told police that it was his property and that he did not realise it was an issue,” the agreed facts say. He also admitted to being responsible for the state of the woman’s garage, telling officers: “She just gets to me”. In court on Tuesday, Richardson’s lawyer Adrian McKenna characterised the behaviour as “bizarre, bordering on disturbing at times”. But Special Magistrate Margaret Hunter fired back that it would be better described as “disgusting”. “It’s not bizarre. He just does what he likes,” she said. Mr McKenna went on to explain that Richardson’s offending was fuelled by alcoholism, which he was seeking to address through counselling. The 64-year-old had had “too much time on his hands” to drink at the time of his offending, Mr McKenna said, because of injuries that had curtailed his ability to work. Mr McKenna also said Richardson was a nudist of normally good character, as demonstrated by his “many years of contribution to the local AFL community”. The court heard that Richardson had, however, also committed offences of indecency more than 40 years ago. In sentencing, Ms Hunter warned Richardson that she had “seriously considered” sending him to jail, particularly because some of his behaviour had breached the conditions of a court order. But she ultimately found that the appropriate penalties were fines totalling $1500, and a two-year-good behaviour order with conditions including that Richardson must complete 100 hours of community service within the next year. “I accept that he might like to be naked, and that is a matter for him if he wishes to do so,” Ms Hunter said. “But he must do it within the confines of his home, with the blinds down, or find a community where [being naked in public view] is accepted. “Quite frankly, we in this community don’t want to see him naked.”
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A suburban nudist who terrorised a woman with “disgusting” behaviour has narrowly avoided jail, with a magistrate opting to impose fines and community service instead.
James William Richardson, 64, appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court for sentence on Tuesday, having previously pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent exposure and one count of contravening a court order.
An agreed statement of facts reveals that the Calwell man exposed himself to a woman who spotted him sitting naked in public view on his property as she drove past in May last year.
Following this incident, the woman began often finding urine stains and “clear globs of liquid” on the side of her garage.
She suspected the mysterious substance was semen, but it turned out to actually be Vaseline and oil that Richardson was smearing on the wall out of spite.
Another woman also had the misfortune of seeing Richardson completely naked in his front yard in February this year while taking her bins out, later telling police the experience had made her feel uncomfortable.
When quizzed in April about his behaviour, Richardson admitted to walking into his front yard in the nude “on multiple occasions”.
“The defendant told police that it was his property and that he did not realise it was an issue,” the agreed facts say.
He also admitted to being responsible for the state of the woman’s garage, telling officers: “She just gets to me”.
In court on Tuesday, Richardson’s lawyer Adrian McKenna characterised the behaviour as “bizarre, bordering on disturbing at times”.
But Special Magistrate Margaret Hunter fired back that it would be better described as “disgusting”.
“It’s not bizarre. He just does what he likes,” she said.
Mr McKenna went on to explain that Richardson’s offending was fuelled by alcoholism, which he was seeking to address through counselling.
The 64-year-old had had “too much time on his hands” to drink at the time of his offending, Mr McKenna said, because of injuries that had curtailed his ability to work.
Mr McKenna also said Richardson was a nudist of normally good character, as demonstrated by his “many years of contribution to the local AFL community”.
The court heard that Richardson had, however, also committed offences of indecency more than 40 years ago.
In sentencing, Ms Hunter warned Richardson that she had “seriously considered” sending him to jail, particularly because some of his behaviour had breached the conditions of a court order.
But she ultimately found that the appropriate penalties were fines totalling $1500, and a two-year-good behaviour order with conditions including that Richardson must complete 100 hours of community service within the next year.
“I accept that he might like to be naked, and that is a matter for him if he wishes to do so,” Ms Hunter said.
“But he must do it within the confines of his home, with the blinds down, or find a community where [being naked in public view] is accepted.
“Quite frankly, we in this community don’t want to see him naked.”
