South West man Craig Leslie Bastin fined $1200 for breaching violence restraining order to help ‘old friend’

A South West man has been warned he’s “skating on thin ice” after breaching a violence restraining order twice in four days, despite telling the court he intended on helping an old friend. Craig Leslie Bastin appeared in Bunbury Magistrate’s Court on Thursday where he was fined $1200 after pleading guilty to two counts of breaching a violence restraining order following his arrest on Wednesday. The court was told Bastin was served a violence restraining order protecting another man in August 2021, which barred him from making contact with the protected person or going near the protected person’s address. However, when police were at the protected person’s address in Australind in relation to another matter during the evening of April 17, Bastin was there with the protected person nearby. It was not until after the officers left that the violence restraining order was brought to their attention. Several days later, police returned to the same address to find Bastin there again and placed him under arrest. In submissions, the court was told the protected person, who Bastin claims was “an old friend”, lived with disabilities and his housemate who normally takes care of him was out of town at the time of offending. Bastin’s duty counsel Ryan Shea said his client attended the address out of concern for the protected person’s safety and wellbeing following an alleged burglary at the property several hours before he was sighted there by police on April 17. Mr Shea also told the court that Bastin was under the impression that the order had been dropped and vowed to stay away from the address now that he has been reminded the order is still in effect. The court was also told Bastin had a history of breaching other violence restraining orders several years ago. In sentencing, Magistrate Joanne Andretich warned Bastin that the onus of checking the status of a restraining order was his responsibility and that he was “skating on thin ice” having several breaches on his record already. However, Ms Andretich noted the breaches had a “good Samaritan” nature rather than breaches of violence. Along with the fine, Bastin was ordered to pay court costs.