Boys held at knifepoint

A 19-YEAR-OLD man who robbed two boys aged 11 and 12 at knifepoint at a Toowoomba skate park has been sentenced to three years in jail.

Dylan Wippel, now 20, had approached the two boys at the Wilsonton skate park on December 2 asking them for a cigarette.

When the boys told him they had no cigarettes, he pulled a knife out and threatened to stab them if they didn’t hand over their mobile phones and passwords, Toowoomba District Court heard. Terrified, the two boys did as he said and Wippel then left.

THE Department of Transport and Main Roads is undertaking repairs on a section of the Toowoomba Cecil Plains Road a month after another set of repairs was completed.

Residents along the road around the Evanslea section, where repairs are once again being performed, are upset with the quality of the original repair job.

A Department of Transport and Main Roads spokesman said the repairs in the Evanslea area were completed in March and focused on reshaping the surface to a depth of 20cm to “improve rideability”.

The spokesman blamed “recent prolonged wet weather” which had “affected the road base” as the cause of the issues with the road, noting that the sections in question “are located on a flood plain”.

But that didn’t wash with one resident.

“It’s on a slight rise, it wasn’t flooded. The water would have run down there.

“It packed up that quick that I don’t accept that at all.”

The department has programmed repairs to be completed next month, weather permitting.

For up-to-date road condition information, call 13 19 40, visit www.qldtraffic.qld.gov.au or download the app.