Mum out to get back on the road
A CAIRNS mum is concerned she may lose her car and struggle to care for her kids after confronting alleged juvenile offenders in her neighbourhood.
Bentley Park’s Natasha Baddock was flooded with support from the community after she was rammed and then used her mini-van to ram a car of four alleged thieves during an attempted citizen’s arrest last Friday.
Now, she’s worried about looking after her kids if she can’t find car parts to repair the damaged vehicle.
“I have six kids … I need that car to look after them, I love them,” she said.
“I’m just going to fix the car the best I can, that’s what I’m cruising with.”
With no parts for her car available in Cairns or Townsville, Ms Baddock is reaching out to Brisbane and Sydney on a mission to get her car roadworthy.
Her efforts come as victims of stolen or damaged cars are forced to wait months for parts and repair shops have piles of vehicles waiting for the go-ahead from insurance companies.
“I rang 20 wreckers and I’m finding it hard to get my car back on the road,” Ms Baddock said. “It’s impossible.”
But she still wouldn’t change a thing.
“You just do what your gut tells you at the time,” she said.
“It’s so sad the system has put us in a position as citizens
to look after ourselves,” she said. Ms Baddock said she had not been contacted by police since receiving a talking-to by officers who disapproved of her actions.
“I’m not going to stand by and let my neighbours get robbed. I’m just worried about the lady that got broken into and the people that lived beside her,” she said.
“We’ve got a pretty tightknit neighbourhood.”
Far North Acting Chief Superintendent Rhys Newton confirmed there was an investigation under way “around the circumstance” of the incident involving Ms Baddock.
Currently, Far North Police were investigating two incidents of people taking matters into their own hands, Superintendent Newton said.
“We support 100 per cent the community being involved in the prevention of crime and that is about reporting the offences, gathering reliable information and passing that on to police and allowing us to do our job,” he said.
Superintendent Newton stressed how serious any form of vigilantism would be taken by police. “We will investigate the full circumstances of any incidents reported to us and where appropriate we will prosecute.”