The Age understands it is likely the pair and their company 160 Leicester Pty Ltd will appeal the severity of the fines. Both men had pleaded guilty, and their lawyers made arguments on as to why leniency should be shown. The Corkman Irish pub in Carlton, built in 1858, as it was until its illegal demolition in 2016. Credit:James Bowering The Corkman pub, formerly the Carlton Inn, was built in 1858 and was not on the Victorian Heritage Register. It was covered by heritage rules that restricted how it could be redeveloped or altered. Rather than work through the planning system to pull down the building, Mr Kutlesovski and Mr Shaqiri – who bought the pub in 2015 for $4.76 million – instead turned up one weekend in October 2016 and simply bowled it over. Mr Shaqiri's demolition business Shaq Industries floored the building while his business partner Mr Kutlesovski was on site.

Corkman developer Stefce Kutlesovski. Credit:Clay Lucas A Melbourne City Council officer warned Mr Kutlesovski, who was overseeing the works, to cease the illegal demolition on Saturday, October 15. He replied: “It’s my site, I can do whatever I want.” On that Saturday evening, when the pub had been all but been completely razed, the pair were issued with a formal stop-work order by Melbourne City Council's then Municipal Building Surveyor, Joseph Genco. This was ignored, and the demolition was finished the next day. The court earlier heard the pair's promise to rebuild the pub, made in writing to Planning Minister Richard Wynne a fortnight after the demolition, had come to nothing and should not lessen the severity of their penalty. Barrister Andrew Woods, acting for the Victorian Building Authority and Melbourne City Council, pointed out that the pair had not kept their word.

“It was not rebuilt,” Mr Woods said. “Not only was it not fulfilled, there was a challenge to the law requiring it to be built.” Mr Woods also pointed out to the court that the loss of this historic building was significant, because of its place in Melbourne's early history. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Bulldozing the pub was a "contemptuous and wilful destruction of an important part of Melbourne’s heritage”, Mr Woods said. He pointed out that the pub was built 22 years after John Batman landed on the banks of the Yarra, and that it had been built two years before Burke and Wills' ill-fated expedition left the city.

The planning minister is pursuing an order, via the state tribunal, for the two-storey pub to be rebuilt. Since the pub's demolition, the Andrews government has massively increased financial penalties for illegal demolition, and jail time in the worst cases. But those rules came after the Corkman demolition. Barristers for both Mr Shaqiri and Mr Kutlesovski had asked the magistrate to offer their clients leniency because the fallout from knocking down the pub had been severe, and taken a huge financial and personal toll on them. "The media scrutiny and public opinion has been unrelenting, fierce and unforgiving," said Nicholas Papas, QC, acting for Mr Kutlesovski. Mr Shaqiri's barrister said the impacts of the demolition, for which his client was pleading guilty, had "included abuse and various threatening messages. There have also been [many] court appearances". The pair were last year also fined $600,000 by the Environment Protection Authority who prosecuted them over unlawfully dumping a small amount of asbestos from the Corkman site, and other offences. They are now appealing the severity of that fine.

Mr Wynne said the court outcome sent a clear message "that wilful and illegal destruction of our heritage will not be tolerated". Lord Mayor Sally Capp said the court's decision sent "a clear message that it is not acceptable to unlawfully knock down a piece of Melbourne’s history". And the chief executive of the Victorian Building Authority, Sue Eddy, showed the seriousness with which the community views illegal building work. “This is an important decision for the Victorian building industry, as it sends a clear signal to all builders and developers," she said. “The owners of the property took it upon themselves to carry out dangerous building work without giving any regard to the state and local laws that exist to keep Victorians safe."