Winemaker thief claims penalty ‘excessive'
Farm manager David Littore faced the NSW Land and Environment Court on Monday after appealing the fine that was handed down last year to Jindalee Road Wines – one of Australia's biggest producers of white wine.
Mr Littore was found to have purposely stolen about 365 megalitres of water between 2016 and 2019 by illegally tapping into the Western Murray Irrigation (WMI) pipeline.
Mr Littore was co-manager of the family winery alongside his brother Vince.
The court heard how Jindalee Road Wines made a $900,000 payment to the Western Murray Irrigation water access license, which was made in 'contrition' for the stolen water.
Mr Littore's lawyer, Clifford Ireland, argued the payment showed his client had remorse for his actions and that 'inadequate weight' was given to the act during the original sentence.
'It was a significant amount paid,' Mr Ireland said in court.
However, the prosecution argued that this was a required payment to the WMI and not a 'voluntary act'.
Originally, Mr Littore and Jindalee Road Wines were fined just under $500,000 for the act in March last year after being found guilty of an offence, with the court hearing how the theft was 'intentional' and required a 'level of sophistication'.
However, that amount was increased to $877,500 in October after NSW Land and Environment Court judge Sandra Duggan found she had made an 'error in the numeric amount of the fine imposed'.
The court noted that this delay was 'unfortunate' but was a 'by-product of the business of the Land and Environment Court'.
Jindalee Road Wines
In June last year, Wine Australia cancelled the export license of Jindalee Road Wines.
At the time, it was the eighth export license in history to be cancelled by Wine Australia.
'The licence cancellation reflects Wine Australia's commitment to ensuring that consumers worldwide can be confident that label claims reflect what is in the bottle,' Wine Australia said.
Jindalee Road Wines has previously described itself as the biggest sauvignon blanc and Pinot Grigio grower in Australia.
Its website states the winery grows 50,000 tonnes of grapes from 1,200 hectares of vineyards at three sites in the Murray-Darling region.
In a statement to news.com.au, Vince Littore said the company was 'embarrassed, ashamed and sincerely regrets what occurred'.
However, he pointed out that Jindalee entered pleas of guilty 'at the earliest possible date' and 'purchased the water on the market and immediately replaced what was unmetered'.
'You will see the Court accepted the company was unlikely to reoffend,' he stated.
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