A vague vandal who couldn’t remember repeatedly ‘keying’ strangers’ cars in a serial scratching spree has been placed on a good behaviour bond. But John Wood, 73, must pay back nearly $8000 in compensation to the owners of the seven duco-damaged vehicles he attacked. And he has also been banned from attending Rosebud Plaza without his wife in tow. Wood pleaded guilty at Dromana Magistrates’ Court to seven criminal damage charges on Thursday. The court heard the Rosebud retiree couldn’t explain why he vandalised six vehicles in the Plaza car park and one in the neighbouring Aldi area last year. He was nabbed on the last occasion, on October 29, by an alert Plaza security guard who noticed him acting suspiciously. She went over to see what was going on, saw Wood using something to scratch another car’s door, and confronted him. Wood told her “someone had done it to him previously”, alluding to that fact he may have himself been the victim of ‘keying’. But he then drove off before police could arrive.
