‘Some sort of weird dream’: Bizarre twist in highway carjacking

A truckie has shared dashcam vision of a stolen car that hit his B-double on the Palmerston Hwy last week. Rejecting help, alleged offenders then stole another vehicle to escape. See the video.

Witnesses to a high-speed crash on the Palmerston Highway stopped to help the victims, who in a bizarre twist of events, stole their car and attempted to run them over three times.

A Cairns-based dog trainer has relived a horrific carjacking incident last Wednesday after coming to the aid of a man and woman in a stolen MG hatchback who then rejected help and allegedly took off in the good Samaritan’s Mazda BT-50.

Taylor Skinner and her boyfriend were on her way from Innisfail to the Atherton Tablelands last week and were following a white MG when the car crashed in an explosion of white smoke after coming a cropper while attempting to overtake a B-double at Mungalli.

“We got out of the car and (my boyfriend) has gone over to check the driver and I tried to get phone service,” she said.

“They hit that truck so hard, they should have been dead.”

The stolen MG hatchback on the Palmerston Highway after smashing into a B-double. Picture: Taylor Skinner

Ms Skinner said both her partner and the truck driver warned the two occupants of the MG to not move.

But discovering the pair were wearing balaclavas and the floor of the car was littered with used syringes the canine nutritionist realised not all was as it seemed.

An assorted collection of sex toys, including a prosthetic butt was also discovered among a tangle of items in the crashed car.

This prosthetic butt was one item in an assortment of sex toys found in the allegedly stolen MG. Picture: Supplied

While the woman occupant of the MG took off down an embankment the man shook off the shock of the impact and limped toward the parked BT-50, that had the keys in the ignition, and allegedly drove off.

“I yelled out ‘They have stolen my car’ and the other truck driver has blocked the highway,” Ms Skinner said.

A screenshot of a Facebook post requesting information on the missing BT-50 before it was recovered last week. Picture: Facebook

“My boyfriend has found the woman down the hill and dragged her up by the hair and she said she would (coax) her partner out of the car, she was limping and she looked like she had a broken arm.

“But I turned around and he was trying to hit us with the car, and he tried to do that three times.

“They had to have been extremely hurt, he was limping and she was bleeding, the car was dragged 6m and it was 100km/h zone and they hit a B-double.”

Taylor Skinner is appalled she stopped to help the injured occupants of the MG and they allegedly stole her own BT-50. Picture: Facebook

Ms Skinner said they let the woman go and she scrambled into the car which then drove off.

“Realistically we’re looking at it as appositive, I think they would have attacked us or the three backpackers that were in the car in front of us if they had no other way to get away,” she said.

“We were just trying to help them, we were standing there like it was some sort of weird dream, we just stopped to help and it’s so unfair.

A video still of the stolen MG showing trail of debris and damage following the crash. Picture: Taylor Skinner

That truck driver, Darryl Pedersen, shared dashcam vision of a stolen car that hit the front of his B-double.

He said damage to the Western Star Curtainsider worth $150,000 was so bad he had been told the vehicle may have to be written off.

“It will be off the road for quite some time (and) I have had to hire another tuck to keep the company going,” he said.

The Mount Garnet truckie is still reeling from the accident and the vehicle theft that followed.

“When they tried to steal the car (the owners) were trying to stop them, it was like something out of a movie,” he said.

“I’m pissed off and I feel sorry for the people that lost their car.

“Everyone did the right thing and to have that happen it’s so wrong, and when the police do catch up with them the judge will give them a tap on the shoulder and let them go.

“People need to be punished for their actions, crime is just out of hand.”

Police stated investigations into the two-vehicle traffic crash and alleged car theft are ongoing however no arrests have yet been made.

Ms Skinner said she sat down with police and went through photos of suspects who police thought were potentially responsible.

“They have not found them but they are pretty solid on who they are,” she said.

The allegedly stolen black BT-50 was recovered by police at Moonin, near Herberton.

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Originally published as ‘Some sort of weird dream’: Bizarre twist in highway carjacking