Man who climbed up ropes of cruise ship in Sydney Harbour fined $4000 over ‘really stupid' stunt
George Frederick Carr, 29, climbed up the ropes of the Carnival Adventure cruise ship at the overseas passenger terminal at The Rocks in Sydney on May 17.
Video of Carr's bizarre climb was widely shared on social media last month, capturing him hanging upside down as he made his way up the ropes.
However his adventure was short-lived, with police called to the scene about 3pm.
Footage showed a police boat below as the man stood on the ropes before he was lowered down and escorted away by officers.
Carr pleaded guilty in Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday morning to charges of enter cleared zone when not screened and cleared, and enter landside and waterside restricted zones when not authorised.
Magistrate Elizabeth Bushby had to take a moment to look up the unusual offences before sentencing.
'I'm gonna have to look this up because this is not an event that commonly comes before court,' she said.
Representing himself, Carr then told the court that he'd climbed the rope to do a 'stunt', believing the cruise ship was bound for Europe when it was due to depart on a nine-day round trip to the Great Barrier Reef.
'I just thought I'd climb the rope and get in through the latch,' Carr told the court.
'But I didn't get inside the boat and they lowered the rope and they caught me.'
He told Ms Bushby that he had been 'really stupid'.
However, Ms Bushby told him the offences were 'more than a stunt', with the clear zones of the harbour in place to protect the community and species in the area.
She also pointed to the large number of resources that were taken up trying to 'prevent (Mr Carr) from following through with (his) plan'.
Ms Bushby accepted that it was a 'spontaneous' offence, but it's nature was 'unexplained'.
Emphasising the importance of deterring others from committing similar offences, Ms Bushby handed down two $1250 fines for each of the two charges related to entering a cleared zone and entering a landside restricted zone.
A further $1500 fine was also handed down for the charge relating to entering the waterside restricted zone.
Ms Bushby told the court that the third offence was 'objectively more serious' than the others.
'That matter is an objectively more serious example of the offences in your conduct when you were in that zone and the resources that were taken up,' she told the court.
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