It turns out the man accused in two carjacking incidents within two days of each other this week was released from custody again, only to be arrested in connection to a residential break and enter Tuesday night.
The latest case happened in the North Jubilee area. Victoria Police say just after 7:30pm someone entered a home and stole a wallet. The home owner followed the thief as he fled. The suspect eventually tried to get into an occupied idling vehicle on Fort Street but the person in the car managed to the would-be thief out.
A man identified as Seth Packer was arrested a short distance away on Richardson Street. That's the same man arrested and accused in the Sunday and Monday carjacking incidents
"He was arrested on the 21st and the 22nd and then he was actually released from custody yesterday afternoon by the courts," says Constable Terri Healy. "And then within the span of a few hours he was back in our custody."
Constable Healy says police advocated for Mr. Packer to remain in custody but she says that decision is up to the courts.
"We made another recommendation that this accused be held in custody and now he has. So he has been held in custody to appear in court on May 14."
On Sunday, police say Packer was arrested and accused in an attempt to steal a vehicle while it was occupied in the 2900-block of Shelbourne Street.
On Monday, police described what they called "a very chaotic series of events" where a man pushed a woman pushed away from her car on Johnson Street and drove off. The fleeing car was involved in two collisions before the thief abandoned the car and tried to steal another vehicle a short distance away. Bystanders stepped in and detained a suspect until police arrived. Packer was arrested and accused in that incident before being released again.
Speaking to CFAX earlier this week, Constable Healy said "we are required under the principal of restraint, that's direction from the Supreme Court of Canada, to release people unless certain conditions are met."