YouTube trail helps convict prolific graffiti vandal who plastered more than 500 tags across South Island
Sunday, 21 June 2026
A North Canterbury man who uploaded hundreds of videos of his distinctive ‘NOID’ graffiti across the South Island documented his own offending on YouTube.
Callum Burgess, 23, was sentenced to five months’ community detention with a 7pm to 5am curfew and 100 hours of community work by the Christchurch District Court last month.
His conviction comes as graffiti reports to the Christchurch City Council surpassed 100,000 in the past five years.
Burgess’ offending was chronicled on a YouTube channel he created called 'noid 7274' on July 24, 2024, according to a summary of facts released to The Press.
He uploaded 593 videos to the channel by November 26, 2025, showing his tag on public bridges, toilets, walls, rubbish bins, walkways, light posts, former gun emplacements, train tracks and drainage pipes.
The tag has a distinctive robotic face wearing a mask, along with the word NOID, which police believed was short for ‘No Identification’.
Burgess used spray paint, ink pens and acrylic paint to plaster the tag across the South Island, from Dunedin to Kaikōura and multiple places in between.
In some instances, Burgess tagged the same spot councils had previously cleaned his graffiti from.
“All of the videos have been uploaded to the defendant’s YouTube channel where he has benefited from notoriety with his 641 subscribers and likely received money from YouTube for the 242,728 views his channel has gained,” the summary said.
Removing the graffiti came at a “significant cost” to councils and contractors. Police received several complaints about NOID.
Sometime in October, Burgess jumped a closed gate into Craig Lynn Station, a large sheep and beef farm on the outskirts of Middlemarch, holding a can of spray paint.
He then tagged a large concrete water tank with his slogan and signature robotic face and slogan. On October 24, he posted his “antics” on YouTube with the title: *STORMY HILL GRAFFITI* #graffiti #vandal.
After police confronted Burgess, he said he owned the YouTube channel and filmed the graffiti with a GoPro.
Regarding the Craig Lynn tagging, Burgess said “he knew what he was doing was illegal but saw the tank and had a lapse of judgement and did what he usually does”, the summary said.
Burgess was ordered to pay reparation when he was sentenced on May 14. An order was made to destroy his spray paint too.
He was convicted of intentional damage, wilful damage and entering agricultural land with intent.
At the time of Burgess’ arrest, Senior Sergeant Stephen McDaniel graffiti, or tagging, “is considered as intentionally damaging property, and we’ll hold offenders to account”.
More than 100,000 graffiti reports have been made to the Christchurch City Council in the past five years, peaking at 30,000 in 2024.
From the start of 2026 to June 18, more than 9600 reports had been received.
Council transport operations manager Kathy Graham said graffiti had many negative impacts, and the cost of removing it could strain small businesses or even force their closure.
She said the council had “some information” on repeat vandals and was aware of NOID tags in Christchurch.
The council had a service contract in place to remove graffiti on public assets and spaces, plus a volunteer programme to report and remove graffiti on private property.
“Council allocates staffing to provide the day-to-day help, information, and advice to assist and support residents, communities, and businesses.”