THE PUMPKINS might have been smashed, and a carnival worker has escaped jail, but the Inverell Show will go on.
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Anthony James Jennings will serve out an Intensive Corrections Order, or community-based jail sentence, after breaking into the show's hall and damaging and eating some of the exhibits.
He is also now prohibited from drinking alcohol for the next nine months after the offence.
Jennings - a show worker - was arrested after he was found asleep on Thursday morning, surrounded by smashed show pumpkins.
Vegetables and produce that are part of the display for the town's show were destroyed, eaten and smeared across the walls of the exhibition hall, after the worker broke in.
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The damaged was discovered just a day before the show was set to open. Inverell Show Society volunteers were preparing the grounds and exhibits at about 7am on Thursday when they noticed the hall doors were open.
Police said when the members entered the hall, they discovered pumpkins and other vegetables - which were part of the competition display - had been smashed.
Other produce had been smeared across the walls and floor, and some of it had been eaten.
The volunteers called police who found a man asleep in the hall surrounded by smashed pumpkins.
Jennings woke up and left the hall but was arrested in a toilet block nearby.
The 25-year-old was taken to Inverell police station where he was charged with three offences including break-and-enter and commit serious indictable offence.
He fronted Inverell Local Court later that afternoon and pleaded guilty to the charge. Charges of destroying property and entering inclosed non-agricultural lands and interfering with business were withdrawn in court, after the guilty plea.
In sentencing, magistrate Jacqueline Trad handed Jennings a nine-month Intensive Corrections Order, or community-based jail sentence.
He was also convicted of the charge, and will be supervised by parole authorities for the duration of the order, and must abstain from alcohol.
The Inverell Show begins on Friday and runs until Sunday.
Breanna Chillingworth
Northern Daily Leader Senior Crime and Court Reporter
Northern Daily Leader Senior Crime and Court Reporter
