A group of fed-up neighbours in Townsville mobilised to stop a pair of young Aboriginal thieves, chasing one of them down and detaining him until police arrived.
Two masked teenagers were caught on CCTV allegedly attempting to break into cars at 3am on April 12, and photos and video taken by the owners soon afterwards show one of them being pinned to a nature strip by three men after being caught.
In one of the videos the female car owner asked the young would-be car thief: “What’s your name?”
The Indigenous teenager told her, and also gave up his friend’s name.
“You do this for fun? Is this like a cool living?” she asked.
“You know I’m supposed to be at work now for my fucking living? You try to come to my car again in my house…”
“Second time,” a man said in the background as the detained teen spat grass out of his mouth.
Another video shows men with large dogs chasing the teenager and yelling “get on the fucking ground and put your hands behind your back now” while another shouts “where’s your friend?” and a third says “grab his bag”.
Photos show shirtless locals out in the streets as police arrived at the scene to arrest the teenager.
But the young mother who filmed the citizen’s arrest later revealed the teenager was released from custody that afternoon, and shared a photo from his social media account appearing to show him joyriding inside a stolen car the next day.
“Obviously didn’t learn a thing. I’m so sorry to whoever’s car this is,” she wrote.
Liberal National Party MP Phillip Thompson said: “I’m so sorry this happened to you! You and many others in Townsville have been failed by a weak government to be kept safe in your own home. It’s not good enough. Good on you and your neighbours coming together and looking out for each other.”
Townsville is widely considered the youth crime capital of Queensland, and in February even the local MP, Scott Stewart, had his home broken into and his car stolen from his driveway.
Opposition leader David Crisafulli has promised to crack down on crime if the LNP win this year’s state election by making breach of bail an offence, removing detention as a last resort, and increasing police numbers.
