Latest news with #watertheft
Malay Mail
11-07-2025
- Malay Mail
Man caught stealing water from ‘Italian Versailles' — palace fountains left high and dry
ROME, July 11 — Italian police said on Thursday they had arrested a man accused of syphoning off water from an aqueduct feeding the fountains and basins of a palace dubbed the 'Italian Versailles' near Naples. The carabinieri police said the 58-year-old had engaged in 'continued theft of public water' to the detriment of the 18th-century Royal Palace of Caserta, a Unesco heritage site built by the King of Naples, Charles of Bourbon. Police said they were alerted after the palace, now a museum, complained about water shortages in the basins and fountains of its lush landscaped gardens. The suspect allegedly tapped into the Caroline Aqueduct, funnelling the water through an illegal pipeline to transport it 145 metres (475 feet) to his agricultural property, which police said they seized. 'The pipe reached six different areas of the farmland for irrigation as well as a 1,000-litre cistern for water collection,' they said in a statement. The suspect was identified as the concessionaire of the agricultural property owned by a religious organisation. He was put under house arrest. The palace, which boasts 123 hectares (300 acres) of gardens, said in a statement it had suffered a 'serious water shortage' at its waterfall, fountains and basins. It said it had avoided using its watering systems for the lawns, causing them to turn yellow, adding that dealing with the situation had caused them 'very difficult months'. — AFP
News.com.au
05-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Winemaker thief claims penalty ‘excessive'
A winemaker who was fined almost $900,000 after stealing about 150 Olympic swimming pools of water to grow grapes has argued that the penalty was 'manifestly 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 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.
