Man given bond for ex-SA MP's house damage

A man who smashed a window and gate at the home of disgraced former South Australian MP and child pornography user Bernard Finnigan has been put on a good-behaviour bond.

Michael James Stagbouer has also been ordered to pay $800 compensation after admitting to causing the damage while drunk last year.

The offences occurred around the time Finnigan was found guilty on one count of obtaining access to child pornography.

Sentencing Stagbouer in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Thursday, Magistrate Lynette Duncan said the 36-year-old was drunk and not thinking clearly when he went to Finnigan's home with the intention of abusing him.

But the situation escalated and Stagbouer smashed a stained-glass window and the front gate to the Sefton Park property.

The magistrate said some people held strong opinions about Finnigan but that was no excuse for the attack on his property.

"It was not for you to take matters into your own hands and deal out your own form of justice," Ms Duncan told Stagbouer.

She placed him on a $500, 12-month good-behaviour bond.

Outside the court the unemployed forklift driver said he stood by his earlier apology to Finnigan and said he would honour the conditions of his bond, including paying compensation for the damage.

He said it had been in the back of his mind that he could be jailed for his offending.

Finnigan was given a 15-month suspended sentence after being convicted in the District Court in December.