Car-jacking incident a new low for besieged city: Dametto

27th January 2022

Townsville’s crime crisis has succumbed to a new low, with sleepy Bushland Beach the scene of a terrifying car-jacking that saw a teenage girl robbed at gun-point this morning.

Katter’s Australian Party Deputy Leader and Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto said the incident, which occurred at the Mount Low Parkway just before 11.30am, signified a dangerous escalation in the already spiralling crime crisis.

He re-iterated his previous calls for tougher mandatory minimum sentences for adults and juveniles found guilty of unlawful use of a motor vehicle or car-jacking offences.

“Crime has been given a free hall-pass in our city for too long and this is a new low,” Mr Dametto said.

“Firstly my thoughts are with the city’s latest victim of crime, a teenage female, who now has to process the horrific experience she’s just had that may take years to get over.

“When I heard about this, it made me want to hunt down the scum responsible for this offence and I don’t think I’m the only one who shares this sentiment. We have all had enough.

“But we must allow the police to do their jobs without interference, and I urge anyone who has information or knows the whereabouts of this offender to make contact with police.”

Mr Dametto said just days after the Premier and Police Minister and their entourage were in town spruiking their big dollar crime spend on bricks and mortar, this incident had demonstrated stronger legislation was necessary to deter and keep the kind of offender behind bars longer.

“They don’t fear the police, the courts of the consequences – for every incidence of crime, victims are left behind to pick up the pieces,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the Queensland Police Service told the Townsville Bulletin that a car had pulled up beside a parked Toyota Kluger, before a man in a mask jumped out of the vehicle.^[1]

The man jumped in the Kluger and told a teenage girl in the passenger seat to get out, before he drove off. It’s understood the man produced a gun when he stole the car.

“Adult offenders found guilty of a crime like carjacking or unlawful use of a motor vehicle should face at least three years in prison, over-riding the current maximum penalty for unlawful motor vehicle use of seven years, which no judge is enforcing,” he said.

“Many people say incarceration doesn’t work, but what doesn’t work is law-abiding citizens being harassed and terrorised day in, day out by criminals who contribute nothing positive to society.

“Juvenile criminals who offend at this level so brazenly should also be subject to minimum sentencing.

Mr Dametto thanked the city’s stretched police service who are working to apprehend the offender.

“If anyone has any information about the incident, please contact Police Link on 131 444,” he said.

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[1] https://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-townsville/teenage-girl-has-car-stolen-at-gunpoint-in-townsville/news-story/1eb8a83999b54a769e44e404c66935cc