Harsh penalty call
A SPATE of brazen car thefts in Townsville has reignited discussions about raising the age of criminal responsibility.
Two arrests were made after a group of teenagers went on the run on Tuesday after they allegedly threatened a woman with a knife and stole her car in the morning.
Just days earlier, Courtnee Paterson’s vehicle e was stolen from a Mount Louisa a home. Thieves s broke in, while her r friend was at home, and stole her keys and wallet from the kitchen table.
The Kia Cerato was one of 10 cars stolen on Sunday night. The car was discovered dumped in O’callaghan St, Heatley.
Now, Herbert MP Phillip Thompson wants to make sure raising the age of criminal responsibility will not be introduced in Queensland.
His opponent, Labor’s Herbert candidate John Ring, also doesn’t believe raising the age would help the city’s issues.
When Ms Paterson’s car was stolen on Sunday night, it was the third time she had been the target of criminals in just a few months.
While the first two times the thieves were not able to find her car keys, this time they t were sneaky enough e to get in while people were home and the lights were on. Ms Paterson, who is sure s the car is a writeoff, but is still waiting for the official word, said s the punishment for young offenders who broke the law needed to be harsh or nothing would change. “Don’t slap them on the hands … as a child if I even spoke back to my parents, I would have been punished,” she said. “They need harsh punishment, they’re not scared of anything.”
Mr Thompson said raising the age of criminal responsibility would not help the city. The age is currently at 10, but there has been some discussion at a state and federal level about raising it to 14.
“Townsville has been let down time and time and time again by the people who put the laws in to keep us safe,” he said. “Crime has been rife in
Townsville for as long as I can remember, people don’t feel safe in their homes.
“The criminals are stealing at night, released in the morning and doing it again.”
Mr Thompson said raising the age of criminal responsibility was “simply not good enough” for Townsville.
Mr Ring told the Townsville Bulletin youth crime was a serious issue, but it needed to be addressed in a collaborative way.
“The current LNP federal MP ( Mr Thompson) continues to play politics with this issue instead of actually helping the people of Townsville.”
However, Mr Ring said he did not believe raising the age would help the situation in Townsville.
“If you do that here, especially in places like Townsville, the court doesn’t get to put any intervention measures in place for young kids,” he said. “Leaving it at 10 gives that court the opportunity to get some fixes in place for that family or that child, and get some intervention and prevention measures in place, and I think that is key.
“This is a generational problem, one simple change in legislation isn’t going to fix that, and it’s not going to happen in four months.
“It’s going to be a lot of work, from a lot of different places, all working together.”