A WEST Belfast man has charged with driving a stranger’s car away from a petrol station after a terrified ten year-old passenger fled.
Patrick McGurk (33) appeared at Laganside Magistrates Court last Saturday charged with one count of taking a motor vehicle without consent over the incident which took place earlier this month.
The court heard a man had driven his Seat Leon to the SPAR garage on Tates Avenue on January 11 and had left his ten year-old daughter in the car with the key in the ignition as he went inside.
Prosecutors allege McGurk then got into the car and attempted to drive it away before realising there was a child in the passenger seat and exiting the vehicle.
The court was told the terrified child then also left the car and ran into the petrol station to find her father.
It is alleged McGurk then returned to the vehicle and drove it away.
The car was later recovered in central Belfast.
During legal arguments over McGurk’s bail, police told the court they were concerned about his safety due to a “credible” threat placed on him over the alleged crime.
Defence solicitor Luke Curran successfully applied for bail on behalf of his client but McGurk was held in custody pending an appeal to the Public Prosecution Service and police approval of a bail address.
