Durack’s Slavko Petreski, 51, cops thousands in fines for planned steel caper

A Brisbane bayside painter busted with steel rods stolen from a local marine business claimed to have found them on the side of the road when he was sprung by police.

A painter caught red-handed with stolen industrial loot alongside two fellow thieves in his truck has copped thousands of dollars in fines.

Appearing at Wynnum Magistrates Court on Monday (March 28) Durack man Slavko Petreski, 51, pleaded guilty to a single count of entering a premises and committing an indictable offence.

The court heard Petreski and two co-defendants were so nervous during a roadside breath test around 10.35pm on July 24 last year, it made police officers suspicious.

Police found specialist-machined steel rods in the back of his truck that were too heavy to be carried by a single person, the court heard.

Petreski first claimed he had picked up the material at the side of the road but management at RL Marine in Hemmant confirmed the rods were stacked behind a locked fence at the business before their theft.

Durack man Slavko Petreski, 51, leaves Wynnum Magistrates Court with defence solicitor James Bakker. Picture: Marcel Baum.

The caper came on the back of a four-page criminal history for mostly drug matters, according to the prosecution.

Police were unable to provide a valuation of the goods that were returned to the business but confirmed it would have been “reasonably” significant.

Petreski’s co-defendants were separately sentenced to a suspended jail sentence and unpaid community service, according to their criminal history, the court was told.

Defence solicitor James Bakker said his client’s life had devolved into drug abuse following the breakdown of his marriage during which he “lost everything”.

Petreski had since regained full-time work as a painter and was expected a child with his new partner.

Acting magistrate Peter Cooke noted the defendant had only one other dishonesty offence to his name from 2019 when he fined him $2,000.

A conviction was recorded.