Man barred from licensed venues fined for going to Dolphin Discovery Centre

A 22-year-old Bunbury man has been fined $1718.10 after entering licensed venues under a barring notice, one of those venues being the Dolphin Discovery Centre.

Isaac Wright, 22, had previously received a notice barring him from entering any licensed venue in the South West and appeared in Bunbury Magistrates Court last Thursday for breaking that notice three times in two months.

On April 8, Wright entered the Dolphin Discovery Centre during an event in which alcohol was being served, making the family-friendly centre technically at that time a licensed venue.

He was then caught a month later visiting two separate bars in Busselton on the night of May 26 — Hally’s Bar and The Esplanade Hotel.

Wright initially pleaded not guilty in early October, but changed his plea to guilty during the hearing.

Magistrate Joe Randazzo said Wright knew better than to break his barring notice and needed assistance with his alcohol abuse.

“You need to wake up to yourself young man,” Magistrate Randazzo.

“You clearly have an issue with alcohol, you need to get help, get counselling.”

Barring notices are issue by the Commissioner of Police on recommendation that a person is “violent or disorderly, engaging in indecent behaviour, or has contravened a provision of any written law” within a venue.

According to the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, the maximum penalty for disobeying a barring notice is $10,000.