Takes effort to halt car theft

THIEVES are becoming more brazen in their attempts to steal cars in Cairns.

The car stealers are also not content with ordinary brands and have been eyeing off luxurious Lexuses and HSV muscle cars.

In the latest disturbing episode, thieves in the dead of night sneaked into the bedroom of a 16-year-old girl while she slept looking for the keys to her mum’s prized muscle car. They eventually found the keys elsewhere and roared off in a HSV Clubsport V8 sports sedan.

Susan Malcolm and her daughter, Gabby, were left shaken and fearful after the robbery and want to move from Woree to another suburb.

The first Ms Malcolm knew her car had been nicked was a call from police at 2.30am to ask if the 2009model car was still in the driveway.

Fortunately the HSV was recovered a short distance away at Earlville, relatively unscathed.

But the invasion of privacy has left the women living in fear.

Most modern cars cannot be hot wired. Thieves need to break into property to find the keys to steal the vehicles and to get away.

Owners must hide their car keys at night — and not just in the top drawer of bedside tables. The idea is to make it harder, if not impossible, for thieves to access your car.

To date 364 cars have been stolen in the Cairns area, 32 last month and 16 so far this month.

Last year 659 vehicles were pinched.

It’s a particular problem in Cairns. In many cases car owners have virtually handed the keys over to thieves by leaving them in obvious places.

Prevention is better than cure and this is the case with vehicle theft.