'Petrol thief' free on bail

2008-06-26 21:11

Pretoria - The man accused of stealing petrol from various filling stations in Pretoria was on Thursday released on bail of R2 500 by the Hatfield Community Court.

Carlos Jardim Perreira-Luis, 39, of Danville, a Pretoria West suburb, was arrested on June 24 after he was recorded on a security camera at a petrol station where he allegedly filled his vehicle and six 25 litre containers with petrol and drove off without paying.

On Thursday State prosecutor Simon Mathibela informed the court that although Perreira-Luis was facing a charge of theft of petrol to the value of R2 579.98, police were also investigating other similar cases against him.

However, these cases had not been opened yet.

Therefore the state opposed bail until these investigations had been finalised.

The prosecutor said it appeared that Perreira-Luis had also used a reflective substance on his vehicle's number plate.

Defence attorney Peter Jay said as these cases had not been opened yet, it could not be regarded as pending cases. His client also did not have previous convictions.

Since his arrest Perreira-Luis also fully co-operated with the police.

"He has been in custody for two days. His employer said if he is not back at work tomorrow (on Friday), he doesn't need to come to work at all.

"My client has three minor children and his fiancée is currently unemployed," Jay said.

He added that the amount involved was not "staggering" and asked for bail of R1 000.

Magistrate Christopher Chokwe agreed that to deny Perreira-Luis bail because of the cases that were being investigated would be like treating him as a "potential offender in future".

However, he felt R1 000 was too little and granted Perreira-Luis bail of R2 500.

The case was postponed to August 5.

- SAPA