Highs and lows of one huge year for Coast CYCLONE DEBBIE’S ‘STING IN THE TAIL’
The Bulletin looks back on the news that was on the Glitter Strip in 2017
FROM horror domestic violence killings and tragic deaths to the hunt for an elusive stonefish, crazy storms, flood emergencies, builder collapses and off-the-wall stories like a cat that survived 45-minutes in a washer.
These are the stories that gripped the Gold Coast in 2017.
‘I KILLED HER’: EX BIKIE LIONEL PATEA ADMITS TO KILLING TARA BROWN
Horrific detail of Tara Brown’s final moments alive emerged when former Bandido bikie Lionel Patea was sentenced to life imprisonment in February for the shocking roadside murder of his ex.
Former sergeant-at-arms Patea pleaded guilty to driving Ms Brown off the road and beating her to death with a metal hydrant cover on September 8, 2015.
During sentencing, it was revealed in court a terrified Ms Brown called 000 and could be heard screaming for help as she was chased and rammed by a pursuing Patea in a black Jeep as they drove through Molendinar.
She was screaming “he’s going to stab me” on the recorded call before a crashing sound could be heard when Ms Brown was rammed from behind by Patea and plunged down a 3m embankment outside 83 Macquarie Ave.
“She can be heard to say ‘Lionel stop’ and ‘please help me’. Sixteen thumping sounds can be heard, another female (witness Lisa Kennedy) can be heard saying ‘what the f--k are you doing’ to which he replied ‘she’s got my kid’,” Crown prosecutor Carl Heaton QC told the court.
Another 13 thumping sounds could be heard with indistinct screaming as Patea smashed Ms Brown’s face with a 7.8kg fire hydrant metal plate.
Then it was silence with only the sound of the 000 operator trying to get a response from her. We knew Cyclone Debbie was causing chaos up north at the end of March but the Gold Coast was caught largely unaware of Debbie’s powerful tail when she moved down the Coast and pummeled the city on March 30, dumping more than 900mm of rain in about 36 hours.
The northern Gold Coast, including beloved Yatala Pies, was flooded ... along with the Tweed, cars at Robina were underwater, the overflowing Oxenford Causeway became a tourist attraction and the Hinze Dam wasn’t just overflowing, it was thundering like Niagara Falls.
The following day, flooding at Chinderah forced the M1 to close in both directions, effectively cutting Queensland from NSW.
IRONMAN LEGEND DEAN MERCER DIES
Australia was shocked when ironman legend Dean Mercer died after suffering a heart attack while behind the wheel of his car on August 28.
Mercer, 47, was driving along Markeri St at Mermaid Waters at about 7am when he went into cardiac arrest and his SUV ploughed through the back fence of a property.
The shocked surf life saving community rallied around his wife – former champion ironwoman Reen – and their four boys Brayden, 13, Rory, 11, Lachlan 9, and Joshua 6.
TRUCK EXPLOSION SHUTS DOWN M1
Gridlock on the MI isn’t unusual but on August 4, a truck carrying 15,000 litres of hydrochloric acid exploded while travelling southbound on the MI at Loganholme at 8.40am.
The out-of-control blaze prompted police to shut the highway and make an emergency declaration with evacuations from a 1km radius around the fire site.
The main artery between the Gold Coast and Brisbane remained closed well into the afternoon.
THE HORRIFIC MURDERS OF TERESA BRADFORD AND KYM COBBY
The city again reeled when mother-of-four Teresa Bradford, 40, was horrifically murdered by her estranged husband David on January 31 at her Pimpama home.
David Bradford, 52, also killed himself in the murdersuicide after being released from jail only a fortnight earlier on serious domestic violence charges.
Friends said Mrs Bradford “was terrified for her life” and had been desperately trying to leave her Matas Dr, Pimpama, home in the weeks leading up to her murder.
Ten months later, the Gold Coast was again shocked when mum-of-three Kym Cobby was bludgeoned to death on the side of a Worongary Road, allegedly at the hands of her ex husband Andrew Cobby.
He was arrested soon after and is facing murder charges.
And there was shock when former soldier Christopher Carter was found not guilty in November of the double murder of his ex Renee Carter and her lover – convicted paedophile Corey Croft – at Upper Coomera in 2015.
He admitted to killing the pair and leaving the couple’s five-year-old son inside the house with his dead parents for 24 hours but convinced the jury it was in self-defence.
THE ELUSIVE STONE FISH
We were all slightly bemused at the lengths Gold Coast City Council went to catch an elusive stone fish in popular Evandale Lake.
Sea World divers were called in after a member of the public spotted the potentially deadly creature lurking in the water hole.
But they couldn’t catch it. So council drained the lake. Wa-lah! The stonefish was found on August 24, ending a five-week saga.
Mayor Tom Tate named it Sharon and it was promptly shipped off to James Cook University where its venom was milked.
WE ALL CRIED OUR EYES OUT
The city’s heart broke at the plight of little dying flower girl Paige Skarratts – the fouryear-old Gold Coast girl with terminal brain cancer.
She wanted nothing more than to be a flower girl at mummy and daddy’s wedding. So the family pulled a hospital wedding together in 24 hours in October.
Told she only had days to live, Paige is remarkably still going strong.
We were stunned when Gold Coast stuntman Johann Ofner was shot and killed while filming a new music video for Australian hip hop crew Bliss n Eso in January.
We marvelled at the courage of Tumbulgum mum Stephanie King who died while desperately trying to free her children trapped in a sinking car when it plunged into the Tweed River in April.
And we were horrified when 21-year-old nanny Sara Zelenak was brutally killed in the London terror attacks in June.
CRIME AND CORRUPTION PROBES
It was the year for Crime and Corruption probes with several Gold Coast City councillors hauled before the CCC inquiry into developer donations at the 2016 council election.
Former Mayoral candidate Penny Toland was subsequently charged with perjury.
Then, this month, 15 Gold