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Beau Provost: Sydney Trains serial train vandal sentenced for graffiti damage
St Clair serial train vandal Beau Provost, who damaged carriages so severely some were forced out of service, went on the $11,000 crime spree to “escape” his problems, a court has heard.
Court documents reveal the 23-year-old father of three went on a graffiti spree and tagged 14 carriages across the Sydney Trains network between 2016 and 2018 when he vandalised trains at Blacktown, Mt Druitt, Granville, Richmond, Schofields, Mortdale, Newtown, Mt Victoria and Gosford.
He was faced with 11 charges of destroying or damaging property in company. The charges included tagging trains, damaging the back of a home at Mt Druitt and damaging the sound barrier walls of the M4 at Mt Druitt.
He pleaded guilty to the offences.
Spray cans that police seized from Provost’s home. Picture: NSW Police
Parramatta Local Court last week heard he was placed on a good behaviour bond for a knife offence “and managed to commit a whole year without offences’’ before inflicting more damage across the rail network.
Between December 2019 and April he tagged graffiti “RWC” to train exteriors at Homebush, Emu Plains, St Marys and Martin Place train stations, causing $11,000 worth of damage.
Last Christmas Eve, he damaged more property at Eveleigh rail yards.
After months of investigation, police seized graffiti cans from his home in May, when he was arrested before being charged with six counts of intentionally or recklessly destroying or damaging property in company.
He initially pleaded not guilty to the offences.
Provost’s lawyer Ihab Jamal told the court some trains his client damaged were out of commission and he used crime to escape.
“His offending is almost used as an escapism,’’ he said.
“It’s almost a way of dealing with the stress he’s dealing with at home.’’
“It’s clear that Mr Provost is someone who hasn’t had the easiest life growing up.’’
The court heard Provost suffered from anxiety and ADHD.
Beau Provost, 23, was arrested after he sprayed graffiti on Sydney trains. Picture: NSW Police
“It was also the case that he was introduced to drugs at a very young age,’’ Mr Jamal said.
“He began using cannabis at the age of 12 or 13 and by the age of 15 he was using cannabis regularly, to the point of 3g a day.
He said he had shown evidence of progress and “feeling less stressed and less anxious in his daily life’’. The court heard Provost had a medium risk of reoffending and planned to continue receiving help from a psychologist.
He was sentenced for shoplifting in February when he stole an $80 black Ralph T-shirt from Glue at Chatswood Westfield.
Court documents reveal he stuffed the shirt into a Target plastic bag while he was on bail and during a shopping trip where CCTV captured him pushing a pram.
Magistrate Rodney Brender handed him a two-year community corrections order for the shoplifting.
For damaging trains, he was convicted and sentenced to a 12-month intensive corrections order, ordered to pay $9051 in compensation and 200 hours of community service.
“This is offending that is repetitive and causes serious damage to the community and there are many, many charges,’’ he said.
“You’ve got a difficult family background and had difficulty at school growing up, and you have a history of substance abuse from a young child as well, which tends to interact in a negative way with these things.’’Originally published in The Daily Telegraph:
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/penrith-press/beau-provost-sydney-trains-serial-train-vandal-sentenced-for-graffiti-damage/news-story/13ac0d1dc86219d3ad2c545373b58ead