A traumatized young couple have called for tougher sentences for young offenders after their home was broken into while they slept in their beds.
Ashlyn Condullas, 22, and her partner Harry have barely slept since early Sunday morning, when two young men woke them up by breaking into their home in Cairns, in far north Queensland.
The brazen intruders threatened to kill the couple when they confronted each other and then stole their two cars.
The ordeal prompted Condullas to write to Premier Steven Miles, ministers and local MPs in a desperate cry for help.
The couple and Mrs. Condullas’ teenage sister, who lives with them, were left devastated and traumatized, fearing they would be attacked again.
Ms Condullas is the latest victim of a growing youth crime crisis gripping Queensland, putting pressure on the state government to get tough.
Ashlyn Condullas (left) and her partner Harry (right) are among the latest victims of Queensland’s youth crime epidemic.
“We’ve all been pretty shocked and devastated, very anxious, very scared to be in our own home,” Condullas told Sunrise on Thursday.
‘My 16-year-old sister is too scared to sleep in her own room. When I say sleeping, she is just on the floor of our room.
“And we’re not sleeping because we’re all hypervigilant and scared.”
While Harry’s car has since been recovered, Ms Condullas’ silver Corolla with personalized pink and black license plates is still missing.
She accused the state government of inaction, a frustration she said has been shared by police trying to enforce the law.
“Many people told me, ‘I wish they would stop releasing them once we caught them,'” he recalled.
Ms Condullas, an allied health professional and former Young Citizen of the Year, made an impassioned appeal to the Government to impose tougher penalties for youth offenders.
“We clearly need action and we need it now,” he continued.
‘I think that should start with mandatory sentences for repeat offenders and with detention not considered a last resort.
‘Because clearly over and over again they are doing exactly the same thing once they are released.
‘I think it has been proven that it is necessary to stop them. I also believe that in cases of crimes such as robbery, burglary, violence or threats of violence, I believe they should be tried as adults.
‘I think the consequences are not hard enough for them. “Clearly, that’s why they keep going out and doing the same thing over and over again.”
His open letter and comments left a lasting impression on Sunrise host Matt ‘Shirvo’ Shirvington.
Ashlyn Condullas hopes Queensland leaders read her ordeal and desperate calls for action. The photo shows the letter she sent them.
Allied health worker Ashlyn (pictured) has called for tougher sentences for youth crimes and mandatory sentences for repeat offenders.
‘I can’t believe you’re only 22 years old. You make a lot of sense, Ashlyn,’ she told him at the end of the segment.
It is understood that none of the recipients of the letter responded to Ms Condullas.
Born and raised in North Queensland, she spent time studying and starting her career in Townsville and the Sunshine Coast before a job opportunity arose to return home in January.
But it never occurred to her that she would become part of the juvenile crime statistics until she woke up to intruders breaking into her home, leaving her frozen with fear.
“Little did we know that what awaited us would leave us with severe anxiety and post-traumatic stress,” he wrote.
Ashlyn Condullas (pictured) was left shocked by the brain and carjacking.
“With the rising youth crime statistics and lack of action by the current government, I suppose it is very possible this could happen again.”
“It’s safe to say we are traumatized and devastated.”
The devastated couple’s dreams of buying their first home later this year have been dashed, with their house deposit savings going towards a new car and security upgrades to their rental home.
Mrs. Condullas believed that the lack of harsher penalties for juvenile offenders and mandatory sentences for repeat offenders has “broken” her status.
“Not just the victims of crimes, but also the frontline heroes who risk their lives to catch these criminals, only to be let go with nothing more than a slap on the wrist,” his letter continued.
There are growing calls for the Queensland government to act following the tragic death of grandmother Vyleen White, 70, who was allegedly stabbed to death by a teenager in a Redbank Plains shopping center last month.
Miles came under fire days later after he laughed when a reporter asked him what his government was doing about youth crime in his state.
Ashlyn’s silver Corolla (left) and Harry’s Subaru XV (right) were stolen from their driveway shortly after 3am on Sunday.