However, Jose Filipe Nascimento Rocha was warned that if he returned to court in the future for any motoring offence he would be sentenced to custody.
The 19-year-old was ordered to complete 150 hours of community service and banned from driving for three years. He was also fined £200 for petrol theft, £70 for a parking matter and ordered to pay £129 in compensation to the Airport Motor Centre.
In sentencing, the Magistrate Bridget Shaw said: ‘This is one of the worst records I have ever seen. It is the fifth time you have been prosecuted for driving while disqualified. It is also your fifth time for being uninsured and you have dangerous driving on your record as well. You seem to have an unhealthy interest in motor vehicles.’
The court heard that Rocha had never held a driving licence and had been banned from driving for 18 months in 2016.
Outlining the recent offences, Centenier Richard Vibert said that on the morning of 1 September at the Airport Car Centre in St Peter, Rocha filled up a Peugeot 206 with £25 of unleaded fuel and drove off.
The matter was reported to the police and the Peugeot was later spotted on private land near the defendant’s home on Tower Road. When police officers found it, the bonnet was still warm.
At about 7.40 pm Rocha was arrested walking along St Aubin’s Road. He was later charged with driving while disqualified, driving without insurance and the theft of petrol.
When questioned about stealing the petrol, Rocha told officers that he believed that he had £20 but then realised he did not. He also knew he did not have money on his bank card.
Advocate James Bell, defending, said that Rocha and a friend were going to fix up the car and he had needed to move it for the repair work to start.
He argued that because of the defendant’s age, the right way forward was community service and a financial penalty.
Advocate Bell said that Rocha had an appointment with the charity, the Grace Trust, which was trying to secure him work with a builder’s merchants.
