This land was just 350 metres from a primary school and a childcare centre.

The magistrate said he would have jailed the men instead of fining them if that option had been open to him.

“In my view you put the residents of those areas at substantial risk,” Magistrate Pithouse said.

“To be perfectly frank if jail were available, I would be imprisoning the accused in these matters. However I am constrained by the [Environment Protection] Act and I am limited to imposing financial penalties,” the magistrate said.

“It is my view that both [directors] of this company have acted with complete disregard to the law for their own financial betterment, and that they have a cavalier disregard for the law,” Magistrate Pithouse said.

And he said that under the Environment Protection Act, he was unable to hand out financial penalties serious enough.

“[The low fines] really just underline the lack of teeth available to the court in this jurisdiction in dealing with such a serious breach of the legislation where people are put at risk for financial gain,” he said.

At one point Magistrate Pithouse warned one of the developers, Mr Kutlesovski, to stop smirking and rubbing his chin.

“I wouldn’t be sitting rubbing your chin so smugly as you are today, because you don’t know how close you came to going to jail because of your actions,” he told Mr Kutlesovski.

He said the two developers deserved to be publicly shamed for their actions.

“I hope everyone knows your name, and your name," Magistrate Pithouse said, indicating Mr Shaqiri as well, "and how you disregarded the law. And if you think you are above the law, you are not.”

At one point, the magistrate said to Mr Kutlesovski: " Don’t try and outstare me."

In response, Mr Kutlesovski said: “I’m not staring, sir.”

The magistrate in reply directed Mr Kutlesovski to "get the smug look off your face".