Indeed. "Call the cops", they say, and they screw around with you? Yes, people thereabouts will take lessons from what happened there. Shoot, shovel, shut up.
It’s not like they’re going to be whacking someone in the public eye and/or beloved by the community. Heck, the authorities probably wouldn’t notice until a trend started of repeat offenders not showing up at the jail anymore. And it’s Australia to boot, things er poisonous there mate! ;-)