Of all  the dumb places to tag, Napier man Whitu Greeks was always courting disaster.

It was bad enough that he targeted the Napier District Court building, worse that it was broad daylight, and still worse that it was in front of a security camera.

To top it all off, he chose a court with a famously anti-tagging judge.

Greeks told police later that he did not care about what he did. But Judge Tony Adeane did care - and packed the 19-year-old off to jail temporarily.

Judge Adeane has taken a hard line on graffiti vandals, winning support from local councils and residents for his stand.

In the past four months he has sentenced two graffiti vandals to 28 days in prison.

Greeks appeared in court yesterday and pleaded guilty to wilful damage. He had used a black marker pen to scrawl two swastikas and the letters I, F, T and A on a court wall about 11am on August 20.

Security staff were alerted and the security camera footage established that Greeks was the culprit.

When police confronted him, he admitted doing it. Asked why, he responded: "I don't really care."

Judge Adeane ordered a stand-down report and put Greeks in custody for two nights. Greeks' lawyer, Leo Lafferty, looked surprised by the judge's decision and requested bail.

"He painted 'A' swastika 'T' on the front of this court building. When asked for an explanation, he said, 'I don't care' ... Why should he get bail?" asked Judge Adeane.

Mr Lafferty replied: "There was no substantial damage, there doesn't seem to be any pre-meditation on his part from what I'm instructed sir.

"It appears to have been a spur of the moment thing and clearly it's been able to be remedied straight away, sir."

But Judge Adeane was not swayed: "Mr Greeks, if you thought the message sent out by this court about graffiti in Hawke's Bay was some sort of joke, you made a mistake," he said.

Greeks will be back in court tomorrow for sentencing.