A 29-year-old man has faced court after being charged with damaging nearly a dozen EV charging stations in NSW in June, and sealing multiple plugs and cables.
NSW Police said in a statement that EV charging stations in Newcastle and Central Coast had been damaged in June – between June 12 and June 30.
Locations affected included EV chargers in Newcastle, Hamilton, Kotara, Wallsend, Swansea, Warners Bay, Heatherbrae, Raymond Terrace, Tuggerah, Erina, and Gosford.
Police executed a search warrant at a home on Hexham Street, Kahibah, on Friday morning and say they located and seized 17 EV charging handles (plugs), cutting tools, a taser, and several large bags of stripped cables.
According to a photo posted on the NSW Police Facebook page, the charging plugs confiscated included plugs from Tesla Supercharging stations.
A vehicle allegedly used in the incidents was also seized.
A 29-year-old man was arrested and later charged with 10 counts of stealing, 11 counts of destroy/damage property, and various drug and prohibited weapon offences, as well as drive motor vehicle without a licence.
He was refused bail to appear before Bail Division Court 2 on Saturday, where the ABC later reported that Dylan Hyland was also refused bail.
Police opposed bail and said the case against Mr Hyland was strong and said a “distinctive” white Ford Ranger truck had been sighted at or nearby the sites of where the copper cables or infrastructure have been damaged and then taken.
Hyland’s defence lawyer Hyland was a practising Jehovah’s Witness and attended church services on Tuesday night, and said he would accept any bail conditions imposed by the court, including that he not go within 100 metres of an EV charging station.
