Probation for graffiti vandal who plagued St. Catharines

An aspiring artist who caused thousands of dollars in damage by tagging numerous locations with graffiti used the city of St. Catharines as “his own private canvas,” court heard Thursday.

John Jarrett was placed on probation for two years and ordered to perform 120 hours of community service after he pleaded guilty in Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines Thursday to six counts of mischief stemming from a spate of vandalism which occurred in late 2019 and early 2020.

The 21-year-old St. Catharines man, who had no prior record, was also ordered to pay $1,400 in restitution.

“He, for a period of time, used the city as his own private canvas and there is a cost associated with that,” said assistant Crown attorney Henry Limheng.

Court was told the defendant was arrested in 2020 after Niagara Regional Police concluded an investigation in relation to an ongoing problem with tags being spray painted at dozens of locations throughout the Garden City. Limheng said the cost to remove the graffiti was about $1,000 per incident. The cost to remove paint from a vehicle that was also targeted was more than $5,700.

He noted the defendant was less prolific than two other men also arrested as a result of the investigation.

“I’m much more well acquainted with actual artwork other than graffiti,” Jarrett told Judge Peter Wilkie. “I’ve been doing art for as long as I can remember.”

Defence lawyer V.J. Singh said his client is a young man with “a lot of untapped potential.”

He completed a placement at Niagara Artists Centre on St. Paul Street and was involved in painting murals in downtown St. Catharines.

A co-accused in the case, Travis Coutu, pleaded guilty in February and received a twoyear conditional sentence. The 23-year-old admitted to tagging more than 100 properties, resulting in excess of $100,000 in damage.

In that case, the judge banned the offender, also a first-time offender, from having paint, markers or sketchbooks in his possession and ordered him to pay $50 a month toward a $21,000 restitution order.