The man accused of stealing election signs alongside Canning councillor and mayoral candidate Jesse Jacobs can be revealed as 39-year-old Xuran Ning.
The Yokine resident briefly appeared at Armadale Magistrates Court on Tuesday, where his lawyer asked for an adjournment while “negotiations with the investigating officer” took place.
Mr Ning was not required to enter a plea to a charge of stealing, and spoke only to acknowledge that he understood the charge read to him by Magistrate Kelly Thompson.
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READ NOW“The charge being ... you stole several election signs (which were) the property of Patrick Vincent Hall,” she said.
“Do you understand that charge?”
Mr Ning told the magistrate he did.
Bail was extended and Mr Ning was granted an adjournment until November 3.
The election signs saga has rocked the southern suburbs’ council mayoral battle.
Mr Hall, the current Canning mayor battling challengers including Cr Jacobs for the top job, has claimed he performed a late-night citizen’s arrest on September 17 on a man allegedly involved with stealing his local government election signs.
Mr Ning and Cr Jacobs were later charged.
Cr Jacobs is due to appear in court on October 6.
He remains both a councillor and a candidate for mayor in the upcoming local government elections, which will be determined October 21.
Mr Hall previously told The West Australian he had used tracking devices to follow his missing signs.
“Very late on Sunday night, it was just after 11pm we saw on the tracker that one of the signs was mobile and we realised it had been taken, and obviously it was now in the car,” he said.
Mr Hall said he followed the car to Canning Vale and confronted the driver, telling bystanders to call the police.