THE Supreme Court Chief Justice said he considered a suspended jail term for a graffiti vandal before changing tack.
The teenager, who pleaded guilty and cannot be named, was instead convicted, fined $1500 and ordered to pay more than $10,000 in compensation.
The 18-year-old appeared in the Launceston Supreme Court yesterday for sentencing on two counts of unlawfully injuring property.
He and others graffitied the Myer and Harris Scarfe buildings in the Brisbane Street Mall more than a year ago.
Justice Ewan Crawford said sentencing was a difficult exercise after the teenager was deemed unsuitable for community service because he now lived in Melbourne.
``It is a pity, a couple of weeks' work removing graffiti around the city of Launceston might have done some good,'' he said.
Justice Crawford said he had decided against suspended imprisonment given the offender's young age.
He was ordered to pay $2145 to Myer and $7865 to Harris Scarfe in compensation for the damage and a $100 victims of crime compensation levy.
The court also ordered he forfeit sketch books, a glove and six stickers that police seized from the offender's former Launceston home.