AN Islander who went on a ‘one-man crime spree’ has been found guilty of 25 offences.
Paulo Dinarte Martins Cardoso (34) appeared in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday after denying 22 charges of attempted larceny from cars and three charges of larceny from vehicles.
A total of 20 of the offences happened in St Mary between 16 and 23 February, with five taking place in St Peter on 25 March.
Despite pleading not guilty to the 25 offences, Cardoso, who represented himself, had already pleaded guilty to other charges including stealing a bicycle.
Cardoso also previously admitted climbing over the Airport perimeter fence and walking onto the runway while a British Airways jet was coming in to land. Air traffic controllers spotted the defendant, told the aircraft to abort its approach and called the States police. He was arrested and treated for injuries sustained during the intrusion.
At the start of yesterday’s trial legal adviser Harrison Gollop, prosecuting, told Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris that the defendant went on a ‘one-man crime spree on the streets of St Mary and St Peter’, targetting multiple vehicles during the early hours of the morning to steal money and other items.
During the first wave of offences Cardoso went to different properties in St Mary, including Clos des Buis and Broughton Lodge Farm. He was arrested after officers found a fingerprint on the door handle of one of the vehicles.
Later, on 25 March, a number of Ville de Bocage residents in St Peter awoke and noticed that their cars had been tampered with, the court heard. Given the circumstances of the incidents and the proximity to Cardoso’s home, officers again arrested the defendant and searched his property, where £1,160 in cash, a new £800 television and £50 PlayStation game was found.
During one of a series of police interviews, Cardoso told officers that he had tried to enter around 100 cars to steal cash, drugs and tobacco. The court was told that during one of the spate of thefts he allegedly recalled riding around on a bicycle that he had stolen but could not remember anything else.
In court, Mr Gollop played CCTV footage taken from a house in Ville de Bocage during the early hours of 25 March which the prosecution said showed the defendant walking round the estate and approaching vehicles.
States police Detective Constable Jeremy Percival, a prosecution witness, told Mr Harris that Cardoso had previously admitted being the figure in the CCTV footage.
Mr Cardoso chose not to respond to any of the charges or provide any evidence, saying: ‘I don’t have anything to say.’
After deliberating for around 25 minutes, Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris found Cardoso guilty. He ordered a report into the defendant’s background and remanded him in custody until 16 January, when he is due to be sentenced.
