Bruce Lehrmann alleged car theft case takes ‘weird and bizarre’ twist

Digital staff
7NEWS
Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has been charged with stealing a motor vehicle.
Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has been charged with stealing a motor vehicle. Credit: Jono Searle/AAP PHOTOS

Just hours after Bruce Lehrmann appeared in a Tasmanian court via phone link charged with stealing a motor vehicle, the case has taken a fresh turn.

Lehrmann, the former Liberal staffer, dialled in to Hobart Magistrates Court on Monday charged with one count of stealing a motor vehicle — a Land Cruiser Prado described by its owner as her ‘pride and joy’.

The owner, named by Nine News as Gail Oates, says she has never met Lehrmann. The vehicle, which had the keys hidden inside, was allegedly stolen in the early morning of November 20, but returned with a full tank of petrol just hours later.

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Oates said she first noticed the vehicle missing when she left to take her son — who she said had previously worked with Lehrmann — to work at about 7am.

“Panic, panic, absolute panic,” she told Nine of her response, “because I knew that was my pride and joy the Prado - so I rang the police straight away.

“It was so weird and bizarre. (He) put fuel in my car and bought a bottle of Coke.”

“(Police) then came and asked me if I could identify him and I did not know him from a bar of soap.”

Lehrmann, who has not yet entered a plea, is expected to appear in court again in June.

Originally published on 7NEWS

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