Lewis Shane Taylor, 20, of Lancaster Street, Coorparoo, and Geordie Scott Erwin, 20 of Waggs Lane, Mortlake, pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court to causing criminal damage and two counts of theft.

They were both placed on the diversion program with the conditions they be of good behaviour for 12 months, contribute $500 each to the State Emergency Service and pay $5317.87 compensation.

Judicial registrar Michael Bolte said the forgiving attitude of the victim contributed greatly to diversion being granted.

He said diversion was a well established therapeutic court program and the impact on the victim Rod Van De Hoef had been revealed in court.

The registrar said it was clear Taylor and Erwin thought the vehicles were in a junk yard but that did not excuse their behaviour.

Police said the victim owned blocks of land in Mortlake's Shadwell Drive, with lot 17 surrounded by a security fence, topped by three strands of barb wire, with the two gates padlocked.

Mr Van De Hoef also put in place hidden security cameras and the lot contained trucks, cars and farm machinery generally toward the end of their life cycle which were to be repaired and sold.

Next door was a scrap metal yard.

Taylor and Erwin were childhood friends and that friendship has continued into adulthood.

Erwin required a seatbelt buckle to get a car roadworthy and on October 20 last year he and Taylor went to the yard.

At 5.15pm Erwin and Taylor jumped the gate and were clearly identified on the security cameras.

They searched a Ford vehicle and used a metal bar to smash a window before the seatbelt buckle was cut free.

The offenders then smashed other windows of the Ford with Taylor later saying he was pretty sure "we did all the Ford".

On October 22 the pair returned to the yard. Erwin said they went to smash a few windows while Taylor said they set out to "have some fun".

They used rocks and poles to smash windows of five trucks, one ute and two cars.

The young men had not been drinking  and attended at the yard between 10.04pm and 10.40pm.

Security camera footage showed Taylor with a pole in his hand and a bottle of oil was also taken back to Erwin's home before it was discarded.

The victim had not been at the yard for a couple of days and when he did attend he found the damage and inspected the security cameras before reporting the matter to police.

Erwin was interviewed on March 26 this year and Taylor on April 10. 

Both made full admissions but were vague about who damaged which vehicles. The total damage bill was $10,635.75.

Taylor told police he and Erwin thought it was a junk yard, "we honestly thought we were doing nothing wrong".

Mr Van De Hoef told the court he understood the defendants were young men with their lives ahead of them who had just made mistakes.

But, he said Taylor and Erwin needed to realise that real people had been impacted by their actions and they needed to think twice in future.

"If the court offered them diversion that would be fantastic," he said.

Mr Van De Hoef said attending Thursday's hearing was about closure for him and not having to look at every young person in Mortlake and wondering if they had damaged his property.

Solicitor for Taylor, Tony Robinson said the offences were committed more than 12 months ago and his client had not been in any trouble before or since.

He said there was money in a trust account to pay for the damage and Taylor was willing to write a letter of apology.

Taylor grew up in Mortlake, his father was a shearer, his mother a nurse but they split up when he was about 10 years old.

Mr Robinson said three references indicated the difficult nature of Taylor's upbringing.

He said Taylor's father now lived in Queensland and his client had no contact with his mother.

References were submitted by Taylor's former headmaster, his manager and Brisbane Lions coach Justin Leppitsch. 

Mr Robinson said while there was no excuse for what his client had done, the offences were committed in a rural setting and involved vehicles towards the end of their life cycle.

UPDATE 10am: Brisbane Lions star Lewis Taylor has appeared in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court for a diversion hearing on charges of theft and causing criminal damage.

The criminal damage charge related to Taylor and a co-accused Geordie Scott Erwin damaging eight vehicles in a Mortlake yard during October last year.

The damage to the vehicles is listed in the police brief as $10,635.75.

The owner of the vehicles, Rod Vandehoef, now claims the cost of damage to his vehicles and his business is more than $75,000 and growing daily.

The case has been stood down so the police prosecutor Senior Constable Nathan Brown can have talks with Mr Vandehoef about the costs.

Solicitor for Taylor, Tony Robinson said he had in trust half the money for the initial $10,000 damage bill.

The lawyer for Erwin said he was in a similar position.

Judicial registrar Michael Bolte said the issue of ongoing costs may be a civil claim matter.

The case has been stood down for further hearing later this morning so talks between the interested parties can be held.

Mr Bolte said he had not even determined as yet if the cases were appropriate for diversion.

9am

BRISBANE Lions star Lewis Taylor is expected to appear in court today charged with causing $10,000 damage after eight vehicles were trashed at Mortlake 14 months ago.

The case of Lewis Shane Taylor, 20, of Lancaster Street, Coorparoo, was first mentioned in Warrnambool court on November 26.

The case has not been adjourned today and as a second mention Mr Taylor is expected to appear in court.

Police allege that on October 22, 2014, Mr Taylor stole a seat belt buckle valued at $5. 

NOVEMBER 26:  BRISBANE Lions star Lewis Taylor has been charged with causing $10,000 damage after eight vehicles were trashed at Mortlake 13 months ago.

The case of Lewis Shane Taylor, 20, of Lancaster Street, Coorparoo, was mentioned in Warrnambool court on November 26.

Police allege that on October 22, 2014, Mr Taylor stole a seat belt buckle valued at $5. 

He and a co-accused are alleged to have caused criminal damage about the same time.

Most of the damage valued at $10,635.75 involved smashing windscreens of  four tip trucks, a Pathfinder, Fairmont Ghia, garbage truck and a Mazda truck.

The case has been adjourned to be considered for diversion which if approved would result in Mr Taylor not having a criminal record.

Mr Taylor, originally from Mortlake, was not present in court.

He has played 44 AFL games and after an impressive debut was crowned last year’s rising star.

The Brisbane Lions has released a brief statement after the first mention of the case, saying they were aware of Lewis Taylor’s court case in Warrnambool.

"He has co-operated fully with the investigation and is sorry for his actions. The club will not be taking any further action in relation to the matter," it said.