McCarthy points finger at Nigerian
Calvin Donovan McCarthy (29), from Koets Street in Middelburg, appeared in the Middelburg Magistrate's Court on a charge of possession of stolen property.
It is alleged that McCarthy was caught in possession of cloned and stolen bank and petrol cards at Afgri in Samora Machel Street on 10 April.
In his bail statement McCarthy said that he has no previous convictions but has two pending cases of murder in 2013 for which he was released on bail and fraud in February 2014 for which he was released on warning.
He stated that he does not deny being in possession of the stolen cards, but that he gave police a reasonable explanation for it.
McCarthy explained that he wanted to buy items at Afgri and approached a Nigerian man to borrow money. He said that he has borrowed money from the man in the past.
He claimed that the man gave him the cards to use and that he had no knowledge that the cards did not belong to the man who gave them to him.
McCarthy also stated that the murder charge against him was made because he was the last person seen with the deceased that the state had not other evidence linking him to the murder.
He said that the fraud charge was opened after he was hired to collect a liquor order with his cousin’s bakkie. He claimed to have no knowledge that the invoice presented to the liquor store was false and said that the men who presented the invoice to the owner of the liquor store ran away.
McCarthy was released on R2 000 bail and will appear in court again on a later stage.
• A separate charge of fraud, wherein he is accused of buying diesel from Midwit Diesel with a petrol card that was not his, was merged with the charge of theft.
