A young man appeared in the Pretoria regional court on Thursday after kicking a petrol attendant in the behind. Apparently this happened because the attendant did not bring him the packet of cigarettes he wanted to buy.

Tertius Goosen (22) from Willowpark Manor, Pretoria, is facing charges of armed robbery and that of sighting a firearm. He was a law student in his second year when he was arrested.

According to the charge-sheet he robbed a petrol station on the corner of Lynnwood and Atterbury roads of four packets of cigarettes on November 14, 1996 after aiming a firearm at a petrol attendant.

He was taken into custody after the petrol attendant took down the registration number of the Mercedes Benz he was driving. The car belonged to his mother. He denied all the allegations.

Goosen testified Thursday that he stopped at the petrol station with his underaged girlfriend to buy cigarettes. After checking that the amount was correct, he gave the money to the petrol attendant. Apparently the petrol attendant just looked at him.

‘‘I climbed out of my car and told him I was in a hurry. He just continued staring at me with folded arms. I lost my temper, pushed him and kicked him in the behind," said Goosen.

After the petrol attendent called another man, Goosen apparently wanted to give them his business card and identity number so that the owner of the garage could phone him the next day so that they could sort out the problem. Goosen apparently went into the kiosk and saw that they did not have the cigarettes he wanted. It seems that he then took another packet.

Upon leaving the kiosk he saw that the second petrol attendent had blocked the exit.

"I warned them that I had a firearm and then showed it to them. I believed that my life was in danger. The one petrol attendant said that I still owed 60c. I returned to my car and gave the outstanding money to them. Afterwhich we left," testified Goosen.

Thomas Marakala, the petrol attendant who was apparently robbed, had testified earlier that Goosen kicked and pushed him. Marakala and another petrol attendent apparently ran away after Goosen pulled out his firearm. Later, it seems he found that there were four packets of cigarettes missing from the kiosk.

According to Marakala, who identified Goosen as the robber, a colleague wrote down the car's registration number.

Magistrate F.J. Poolman postponed the case to February 16.