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Nanaimo graffiti tagger fined $15,000, must write essay on why vandalism is ‘morally wrong’

City of Nanaimo releases details of court order
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A ‘Khaos’ graffiti tag on the old A&B Sound building at Terminal Avenue and Commercial Street. (News Bulletin file photo)

A prolific graffiti tagger was fined, forced to apologize to the City of Nanaimo and must attend counselling.

According to a City of Nanaimo press release, a settlement was reached via consent order in the Supreme Court of B.C. this past summer.

The city says approximately 450 ‘Khaos’ tags were found in 2020, painted on buildings, infrastructure, dumpsters and other places. The offender, Kai Sei Cleave, was arrested and identified in April 2020 after a citizen “observed the tagger applying tags to multiple surfaces near Terminal Park Mall and contacted police.”

The City of Nanaimo began civil action against the tagger in January 2021, “which included obtaining a court-issued order to cease the prolific acts of vandalism around the community” and seeking financial damages, according to the release.

The order requires that the tagger pay $10,000 in fines and $5,500 for damages, to be paid in $150 monthly installments, and remove all their tags. The defendant cannot possess spray paint for two years. The defendant must also write a 1,000-word essay on “why graffiti vandalism is legally and morally wrong,” the court ordered.

“The City of Nanaimo is committed to taking appropriate measures to prevent and remove graffiti on public property, and to holding offenders accountable for the desecration of public and private property,” said Mayor Leonard Krog in the release.

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editor@nanaimobulletin.com

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