Theft of $34 in petrol leads to warrant for arrest

Leslie Ernsdoerfer, 57, of Noble Park, was escorted into the court dock on Tuesday, April 9, to face several charges stemming from the petrol station incident.

The court heard he had been arrested in Queanbeyan after he failed to show up in court on March 3 and a warrant was issued.

Ernsdoerfer had been charged with one count of intimidation with the intent to cause fear of harm, one count of dishonestly obtaining property by deception, and one count of failing to appear in court.

A charge of behaving in an offensive manner was dealt with by magistrate Doug Dick during the March 3 Bega Local Court sitting with a $500 fine.

This week, he was formally convicted on the intimidation and theft charges, and entered a guilty plea on the failure to appear in court matter.

For the intimidation charge he was fined $1000 and for the fuel theft a further $500. For failing to appear in court Ernsdoerfer was fined $300.

He was also ordered to pay the $34.75 fuel bill in compensation.

His defence solicitor said Ernsdoerfer had "intended to pay, but couldn't", and wanted to leave his name with the petrol station staff and a promise to pay later, but was not able to do that either.

"He agrees he owes some money - he just wants to get out of here and go home to Victoria," they said.

Magistrate Dick said to Ernsdoerfer "you can see we take these matters seriously".

"The transaction was declined and things went bad from there," Magistrate Dick said.

"Then you were arrested in Queanbeyan and couldn't post bail so you've spent time in custody."

Magistrate Dick then countered a claim from the defence that Ernsdoerfer was not aware of his court date by holding up an email sent as a reminder.

"You might remember that one as you have responded by saying 'You are corrupt'," he read out.

Ernsdoerfer was led from the dock by sheriffs to be processed and released.

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