A family whose car was stolen in broad daylight after a break-in was attacked by robbers just three days later, as a youth crime crisis grips Queensland.
Tom Miers and his family, who live in Hawthorne, a Brisbane suburb, became the target of hooded robbers for the second time in a single week.
The burglars broke into his home through a side door and took his car keys while Miers, his wife and children were home during the day on Wednesday.
They then went to the garage, started their vehicle, and drove through the garage door while backing out of the driveway.
The family home was attacked again three days later, with a group of brazen thieves breaking into the garage on Saturday night.
Tom Miers and his wife (pictured) had their Hawthorne home burglarized twice in a single week by young thieves.
Miers was alerted to their presence after his car alarm went off. But when he got to his garage, he saw the robbers fleeing the scene.
“We saw them running down the street, across the street,” he said. 9News.
When the police arrived at his house with dogs, they revealed to Mr. Miers that this was the ‘seventh or eighth’ home invasion they had attended that night.
Despite making two arrests following the car theft earlier in the week, the Brisbane father had been told by police that the thieves would likely return to his home.
“The police warned us that they would try to come back because they had the keys to his house, they will try again,” Miers said.
A group of hooded and masked youths were seen walking the streets near his home shortly after the raid.
They were caught on security camera footage from the home of local resident Brent Daniel, who only lives a couple of blocks from Mr. Miers.
Daniel expressed his frustration over break-ins and robberies in the Brisbane area.
“Things must change, and they must change from the government,” he said.
Miers is considering installing floodlights and security cameras at his home and bollards at his driveway to deter criminals.
The robbers broke into the family’s Brisbane home, took their car keys and broke their garage door as they made off with their car.
Three days later, a group of masked youths broke into Miers’ garage again before fleeing the scene. They were caught on security cameras walking down a nearby street.
comes as Show Stats queenslandMeasures to deter young people from reoffending are failing with more than half reoffending in a year.
The state government of Annastacia Palaszczuk reintroduced a juvenile justice reform initiative in 2016, in an attempt to address the growing epidemic of juvenile crime in the state.
However, the worrying results of the last two years showed that more than 50 percent of the minors who went through the program committed crimes during the following year.
Restorative justice is a form of sentencing in which offenders are ordered to reunite with those they harmed in an attempt to make them understand the harm their actions have caused and prevent them from committing future crimes.
However, in 2021 and 2022, of the more than 3,400 youth who attended ‘restorative justice’ reoffended within a year.
Statistics show that QLD’s juvenile justice reform initiative, which was reintroduced in an attempt to tackle the youth crime epidemic, is failing, with more than 50 per cent of participants reoffending within a year (file image )
Palaszczuk’s government reintroduced a juvenile justice reform initiative in 2016, in an attempt to address the state’s growing epidemic of juvenile crime, but many reoffend or fail to even show up for the mandated conference.
The data also showed that more than 4,450 young offenders were ordered to attend the program in the past two years, but nearly 1,000 never showed up.
The Youth Justice data also revealed that boys ages 14 to 15 were more likely to be ordered to participate in the program.
The Far North Queensland region had the highest recidivism rate, 57 percent, followed by South West Queensland, 56 percent) and South East Queensland, 53 percent.
Those in the youngest 10-15 age group had the highest recidivism rate with 57 percent of them committing at least one crime after participating in the program.
