Five teen girls have been charged after a carjacking and police chase in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs
A fifth teen has been arrested over an alleged carjacking and police chase in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs.
Police & Courts
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A 14-year-old girl is alleged to have threatened an Uber driver with a knife before she and four other teenagers went on a high speed chase through the eastern suburbs with a fifth suspect arrested by police after initially fleeing the scene.
The frightening ordeal started just before 3am on North East Rd, at Windsor Gardens, when a rideshare driver was threatened by the group of teenage female passengers before they stole her black Lexus.
The 25-year-old woman was not physically injured in the confrontation and four of the girls were arrested.
In the Youth Court on Thursday afternoon Auxiliary Magistrate Ted Iuliano remanded all four of the girls in detention while reports are prepared on the suitability of their homes for bail.
A police prosecutor told the court that they were “strongly opposed to bail” for the 14-year-old alleged to have been the driver.
The court heard a fifth teenager had been identified by police but was still on the run.
Police said on Friday she had since been arrested on Thursday and refused bail before appearing in the Youth Court charged with aggravated robbery and illegal use.
The alleged driver is charged with ten criminal chargers including four counts of damaging property, committing theft using force, aggravated serious criminal trespass and theft.
The court heard the youngest accused, who had just turned 14 and has no criminal record, was a relative of the alleged driver.
She is charged with trespass, theft using force, theft and driving a vehicle without owner consent.
A duty solicitor applied for the youngest accused to be released on simple bail, saying she had an unblemished history and had never been in detention.
Mr Iuliano ordered she be remanded in detention until the next hearing on July 25.
Two other accused – a 14-year-old Birkinhead girl and a 15-year-old Mansfield Park girl were also remanded in detention until later this month.
Earlier police said that Eastern District officers were called to Windsor Gardens around 3am and flooded the area with patrols, who spotted the teens speeding along Dequetteville Tce before their car turned north on to Flinders St heading towards The Parade at Norwood.
Police activated their emergency lights and pursued the Lexus for a short time.
The vehicle travelled east along Grey St at speed, sideswiping a number of parked cars, before turning south on Sydenham Rd.
Luke Heffernan and his housemate were among those to have their cars damaged by the out-of-control vehicle.
“Our cars were parked near the corner, so it looks like the car has hooked around with speed and collected both vehicles before straightening up and taking more mirrors off down the street,” he said.
“My mate’s has been scratched across about three or four panels and mine has lost a mirror and had the rims scratched.”
He said insurance would hopefully cover the damage.
“It’s frustrating, I had a day of annual leave today where I was just going to relax, but now I’ll probably have to deal with this,” he said.
“I guess it was lucky that it was at that time night because it could have been much worse. It’s a pretty high traffic street during the day.”
The car eventually clipped a kerb near the intersection of William St and Sydenham Rd.
It all came to a crashing end in front of Gino Luglietti’s property where the car was dumped by the occupants who ran from the Lexus.
“I was woken by the sirens at about 3am and heard police calling for the occupants to stand down,” Mr Luglietti said.
“We have a one-year-old who sleeps just metres from us, so we were obviously pretty alarmed by it all, but fortunately my baby slept through it all.”
Patrols cordoned the area and caught the alleged driver on Sydenham Rd and with assistance of Polair and a police dog, three passengers were located and arrested.
Mr Luglietti praised police for the way they contained the situation.
“I can’t state that enough, we were sort of watching out the window and they did a phenomenal job,” he said.
“One crime is one too many, but thankfully this one came to a head pretty quickly.”
The car was towed from the scene.
Police investigations into the matter are ongoing and they are appealing for anyone with further information to contact Crime Stoppers.
Uber has been contacted for comment.
It comes after police are investigating after a Mustang crashed into a Norwood barber shop on Wednesday night.
Emergency services were called to The Parade at Norwood after a green Ford Mustang that was travelling west lost control and crashed into a parked car and then into Johnny Slicks barber shop about 9.45pm.
The driver, a 42-year-old Rostrevor man, was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.
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