Midnight cyclist charged with looting
A man has been charged with looting after being stopped by police in the middle of the night in one of Brisbane’s flood-affected suburbs.
Police officers were patrolling the suburbs of Milton and Auchenflower on the lookout for looting when they questioned Michael Peter Rose, who was riding a bicycle at 12.20am on Saturday.
Mr Rose allegedly told police he found the bike on a footpath along with other discarded items.
However, the police allege the bicycle looked brand new - and undamaged by the floods - with a defence lawyer telling the court that police didn’t accept his explanation before charging him with stealing by looting in a natural disaster.
The 36-year-old appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Saturday facing several additional charges he was meant to appear in court for in February.
The previous charges included committing an indecent act in a public place, failure to appear on a bail undertaking and entering premises and committing an indictable offence.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Wade Domagala opposed awarding Mr Rose bail, saying the risk he would fail to appear in court or commit other offences was unacceptable.
Mr Rose claimed his earlier failure to appear in court was due to a text he received from the court saying he wasn’t required to attend, while his lawyer said the phone the text was on had been lost.
Magistrate Tracy Mossop said Mr Rose failed to appear in court, contravened a probation order and was in breach of a suspended sentence.
She said Mr Rose hadn’t shown any cause for why he should be granted bail and remanded him in custody.
He is due to appear via video link in early April.
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