Teen terrorises vehicle owners
Youth clocks up more than 50 offences
A YOUNG offender who was part of a quartet that went on a 15-hour crime spree from Cairns to Townsville in 2019 pointed a gel blaster at a woman yelling “get out of the car, do you want to get shot” while trying to steal her car, a Townsville court has heard.
The Townsville Bulletin can reveal the teen, who has just turned 18, has a staggering criminal history spanning 19 court appearances for 36 burglary or break-in offences, 12 unlawful uses of a motor vehicle and nine stealing offences and had received six probation orders, four community service orders, four conditional release orders and served four stints in youth detention.
The youth, in Townsville’s District Children’s Court last week, pleaded guilty to his involvement in a January 2019 crime spree that stretched 400km from Cairns to Townsville, during which he threatened three people with fake guns.
He had been out on bail at the time of the offences, after being picked up by police less than a month earlier for breaking into a hotel and stealing booze.
Crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard told the court the youngster was picked up by a co-offender from the Atherton n
Tablelands in a stolen car, and the boy then drove the vehicle down to Ingham.
In the early hours of January 24, 2019, the boy and his co-offender overtook a woman and her daughter on the highway at Cattle Creek, near Rollingstone, before threatening the driver with a gel blaster, yelling “get out of the car, do you want to get shot” multiple times while waving the toy gun at her.
The woman and her daughter managed to escape in their car.
At Rollingstone petrol station, the teen and his co-offender used the gel blasters to threaten another man waiting to fuel up.
“They yelled ‘ open the f--ing door, get out of the f---ing car’,” Ms Sheppard said.
The male victim kicked the door open, hit the teen and ran from the scene.
The teen and his co-offender drove off with the vehicle, but it soon ran out of petrol, and they walked to a Bluewater home and stole another car after threatening its owner.
Four teenagers were arrested in Hermit Park on January 25, 2019.
The boy spent 308 days in custody and was released on bail in November 2019, before going on to commit more offences, including unlawful use of a motor vehicle.
His barrister, Kelly Stone, said his client’s offending was serious, but he had been making an effort to become a contributing member of society, and had just started work at a mango farm.
Mr Stone said the teen had the support of his family, which was not the case of many children that came before the courts.
Judge Gregory Lynham, who described the teen’s actions as “carjacking”, granted the teen bail to allow him to work while waiting for additional information from Youth Justice before sentencing in April.