PHOTO: Shady Tradie
The victims of a rogue roofer say he should have been given jail time for his offending.
The roofer, Macaulay Marchant, who traded under the name Essential Roofing Limited, took more than $250,000 from customers.
In some cases he carried out shoddy work, in others he failed to turn up to the job at all. During this time, he was using customers’ money to feed his gambling habit and living the high life.
Marchant pleaded guilty to three charges of obtaining money by deception, one of incurring a debt while his company was insolvent, and one of failing to keep records of his accounts.
He was sentenced to eleven months home detention, plus an order to pay back approximately $150,000. It’s left his former customers feeling angry, saying the punishment doesn’t go far enough.
Matt Voice was one of those customers, giving Marchant over $3000 upfront to waterblast, fix and re-paint his damaged roof.
