Elderly woman stabbed to death at Redbank Plains shopping centre
Five teenage boys have been arrested in relation to the stabbing death of a grandmother during an alleged carjacking west of Brisbane. One of them, a 15-year-old has been charged.
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Five teenage boys have been arrested in relation to the stabbing death of a grandmother during an alleged carjacking west of Brisbane Saturday night.
Police confirmed late Monday afternoon that three 16-year-old boys and a 15-year-old boy were arrested in Ipswich on Monday and were currently assisting police with enquiries. No charges have been laid against these youths.
It comes after a 15-year-old was on Monday morning charged with one count of unlawful use of a motor vehicle.
The Ripley resident had presented to Ipswich Police Station about 9.30pm on Sunday.
He appeared at Ipswich Children’s Court on Monday.
Vyleen White was fatally stabbed to death in front of onlookers during a carjacking at Town Square Redbank Plains Shopping Centre.
Detective Acting Superintendent Heath McQueen said earlier on Monday afternoon there were other “persons of interest” police wanted to speak with.
Supt McQueen said the attack wasn’t gang-related however investigators would look at whether alleged offenders were part of any gang.
“Sadly the motive was to steal a Hyundai Getz,” he alleged.
He said investigators were looking at the movements of the youths before the murder.
Supt McQueen said Mrs White was a lovely family woman.
“This is senseless violence so I don’t think there is any suggestion at all she has fought back,” he said.
“She was taking her granddaughter to the shops.”
Speaking at a press conference at the Redbank scene on Monday Commissioner Katarina Carroll said she had asked to see Mrs White’s family.
She said police would be relentless in pursuing the alleged offenders and more than 40 detectives were working on the murder case.
“If anyone thinks they are going to escape this – they will not escape this – we will hunt these people down until we bring them to justice to be held to account for what they have done,” Ms Carroll said.
“As the superintendent has said this is an innocent woman loved by family and loved by community, coming here with her granddaughter, the most abhorrent thing (has happened). And even the truest and hardest detectives find it very difficult, very difficult, to deal with a situation like this.”
Local resident Christine Deason expressed her concern and distress at the press conference at Town Square Redbank Plains on Monday afternoon.
“Nothing ever changes after these things. Katarina Carroll always feels the urge to come and say hi after these things but nothing ever changes,” Ms Deason said.
“Nobody does a single thing.
“We need fully-trained security here. They want to put police security at the shopping centre, but that’s not enough, they will just end up going to a different centre.”
There were emotional scenes the shopping centre on Monday morning as dozens of flowers, candles and heartfelt messages were placed.
Wacol Youth Detention Centre teacher David Martin said what happened on Saturday night was “so tragic and senseless”.
“It’s just so needless and something needs to happen,” Mr Martin said.
“Coming here and seeing this and seeing the vigil is incredible. We’ve got such a good community that rallies behind each other.
“I just can’t imagine what the family is going through.”
Local Harry Tangaroa said more needs to be done to keep the community safe.
“Change needs to happen now, the law needs to be change now,” Mr Tangaroa said.
“They must take action today.”
Mr Tangaroa said he got goosebumps when he saw the vigil
“It’s just awful, I’ve never seen anything like this before around here,” Mr Tangaroa said.
Redbank Plains resident Rosie said she didn’t feel safe enough to come to the vigil on Sunday night but instead left a candle on her driveway in honour of Vyleen’s memory.
“It is truly heartbreaking … I hope Vyleen is in a better place. But unfortunately it is the family that is left with this loss,” she said.
Local Kate Archie took to Facebook to share how she was honouring Vyleen’s memory.
“It got a bit late for our baby at the vigil tonight, so I lit the candle at home for Vyleen,” Ms Archie said.
“I hope others can share theirs too. I will think of them often”
Others followed suit posting their candlelit vigils from home.
“I didn’t feel brave enough to go out to the vigil,” Janelle Wensley said.
“For Vyleen,” Faith Petersen Kalbaugh commented.
Mrs White’s distraught family have declared they want justice.
The former religious instruction teacher’s daughter, Danice White, said there was “a problem” if Queenslanders could not feel safe walking around their own communities after her 70-year-old mother was knifed in the chest before her car was stolen in an underground carpark the shopping centre.
On Sunday afternoon a GoFundMe was created for Mrs White’s family.
Fundraiser organiser Katherine Lameree said the community needed to rally together.
“My friend and her family is now without their mother,” Ms Lameree said.
“They have lost a mother, grandmother, a wife and loved family member of their family.
“They are all so overwhelmed and so warm hearted by the community at such a difficult time.”
Late on Sunday, police released CCTV footage of four persons of interest who allegedly dumped Mrs White’s vehicle soon after her death.
Danice White revealed her mother was grocery shopping with her six-year-old granddaughter and planned to return home for bible study when the unthinkable happened.
“I came back to her house to help her out when she brought the shopping home,” she told The Courier-Mail on Sunday.
“We were going to spend the afternoon together doing a bible study.
“We are all pretty numb and shaken up and we’ve got high blood pressure at the moment.
“I’m struggling to control my thoughts right now.”
She said that earlier in the day, her father had told her mother to go to another shopping centre.
“Dad says ‘why don’t you to go to Redbank plaza’. If only she listened that day, it would have not been her,” she said.
Ms White said her mother, who used to be a religious education teacher and worked in wiring electrical motors, was very thoughtful.
“She was always praying for people, that’s why I am still around,” she said.
“She’d pray for homeless people, if she’d see someone in need she’d help them.”
“My mum’s faith is very important.”
Ms White said the next road would be difficult for her family, especially since her father was blind and needed help.
“She would have been married 50 years, they only just missed the anniversary,” she said.
Ms White said it should never have happened to her mother.
“We want justice, I don’t want anyone else to ever go through this again. How come they did this to a woman,” she said.
“There should be a police beat at every shopping centre and a police presence, or even have a guard dog on site in the police beat.
“If we can’t feel safe walking around, there’s a problem.”
Speaking on Sunday afternoon, Detective Acting Superintendent Heath McQueen said the investigation was progressing as they moved into the evening.
“What remains important to us today, as investigators and police is that we catch those that are responsible for this offence, we apprehend them and we ensure the community feels safe,” he said.
“This afternoon I will be releasing some CCTV vision of four persons of interest who a short time after this homicide was committed yesterday evening, (allegedly) dumped the victim’s vehicle in the street at Springfield Lakes, exited that vehicle and walked away from the vehicle
“As you can appreciate, this is a significant investigation, we are 24 hours in. I want to underpin that the work that’s been conducted by the investigating police, forensics, detectives and first response officers.”
Det Act Sup McQueen said in the last 24 hours they had received numerous public reports assisting them to find the car in a “fairly short time”.
“I make an appeal to the community to assist us as they already have with the identification of the victims vehicle and help us identify those four persons that have exited that vehicle yesterday afternoon so we can locate those persons, bring them into custody and talk to them in relation to this homicide,” he said.
“I can say, there’s believed to be one person involved in the attack on this elderly lady, operating alone.
“However I did say during the course of this investigation that may change and as it unfolds we may identify there are further offenders that are involved who are peripherally linked to this offender who has committed the homicide.”
Det Act Sup Queen said it was a violent and cowardly crime that he had “not seen in my time as a detective”.
He said QPS were investigating and applying whatever resources they needed to solve it.
Police were urging anyone who saw a blue 2009 Hyundai Getz in the Redbank Plains and Springfield Lakes areas between 6pm and 7pm on Saturday to come forward.
Police allege the blue 2009 Hyundai Getz with Queensland registration 432 TYO was driven from the shopping centre after the incident.
The car was found in Springfield Lakes and was seized for forensic examination Sunday.
Investigators released an image of the car and asked anyone with relevant CCTV and dashcam footage to come forward.
Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said she shops at Town Center regularly and was shocked by the act of violence.
“I've always felt safe, I will continue to come here,” she said on Sunday.
“I’ve been the mayor for years and this is the first time anything like this has happened in our community on my watch.”
She said the community was devastated and reeling but assured residents safety was council’s priority and highlighted the Safe City Camera network.
“We have provided all that information to the police and I believe that’s helped them identify and locate the car today,” she said.
Ms Harding said she had been in contact with the Premier and the Opposition Leader, who both shared their heartfelt condolences.
“The Premier has personally offered to me any support that our community needs, that he will be there for us,” she said.
“I thank the police and the leaders in our community for coming together and just helping the family through this at the moment.”
The Mayor said she regularly communicated with local police and heard the community’s plea for an increased presence.
“I think whenever there’s a crime that people always want more and more police,” she said.
“I’m in constant contact with the local police and they are pulling out all stops, they are doing everything they can.”
“The Premier has said that they have any roadblocks, let him know he will do everything he can as well.
“We really do need this particular person to be identified, they need to be caught and they need to be locked up for the rest of their lives.
“This is just a horrible, horrible thing they’ve done.”
Ipswich councillor Paul Tully, whose division borders the Redbank Plains Shopping Centre, said residents were shocked at the brutality of the incident.
“This is the worst I have seen in Ipswich in the past 50 years,” he said.
“It is an appalling crime and the community is hurting enormously.
“A murder in broad daylight in a local shopping centre just to steal a car beggars belief.”
Locals left flowers at the scene on Sunday as police guarded the escalators to the underground carpark.
Detective Acting Superintendent Heath McQueen on Saturday had said the stabbing appeared to be a robbery turned violent.
He said while the six-year-old girl was not injured, what occurred in front of her was “very harrowing”.
“Let’s be clear, this is an abhorrent, cowardly, violent attack on a 70-year-old grandmother in front of her six-year-old granddaughter.
“This is a very confronting scene we have been faced with this evening.”
Several passers-by on Sunday stopped by the scene, leaving flowers or talking to police.
Aaron Taua said it was important for him to pay his respects and lay flowers at the scene, his local shopping centre.
“I don’t know this person, but I hope the family’s in a good place and especially for the young child to go through that kind of thing, he said.
“I thought we should go and pay our respects because anything could happen, you should hug your loved ones.”
He said he was shocked by the stabbing but hoped it would bring the community together.
“If the community rallied together and hope this will never happen again … it’s pretty emotional,” he said.
Nickole Cooper said the stabbing made her anxious for her 75-year-old mother who frequents the centre.
“She comes up here all the time and I just told her that she can’t do that anymore because it’s not safe,” she said.
“The police have been here, the presence has been but it’s just, you know, they can only do as much as they can.”
“They do a great job, but it’s just, it’s a shame.”
Premier Steven Miles said he was saddened to hear of the shocking incident.
“I have been briefed on that awful murder,” he said on Sunday.
“It is an abhorrent crime, a terribly violent crime, a crime committed, it sounds like, in front of a very young relative of the victim.
“I know our police are working just as hard as they can to catch this perpetrator.”
Mr Miles said the community should feel confident with police working overtime.
“Nobody should die the way this woman had and our police are taking it very, very seriously,” he said.
“I understand they worked through the night.
“They will have a further update later in the day.
“No doubt they will catch this murderer.”
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said the incident was “senseless and it’s shocking”.
“It’s obviously early in the stage but on behalf of everyone can I really pass on our condolences to the family and to the community,” he said.
“Again, we wake up to a story like this and a community that is really left to pick up the pieces and time for analysis will come but today it is time as a state for us to sincerely wish that community and that family all the best.
“It really has rocked the area and it has rocked the state.”
Ipswich councillor Paul Tully, whose division borders the Redbank Plains Shopping Centre, said residents were shocked at the brutality of the incident.
“This is the worst I have seen in Ipswich in the past 50 years,” he said.
“It is an appalling crime and the community is hurting enormously.
“A murder in broad daylight in a local shopping centre just to steal a car beggars belief.”
Supt McQueen said a witness had described the male offender as African in appearance.
“We can assure you that we are applying a large number of resources to this investigation this evening,” he said on Saturday.
“We will continue to investigate this around the clock – we will commit all the resources we have at our disposal to locate this offender and apprehend him.”
Supt McQueen said he and other “seasoned police officers” who had viewed footage of the attack were “taken aback by the level of violence”.
“As the investigation unfolds, I’m hopeful that we will capture some evidence of the offence on CCTV, but I’d also like to reach out to the community,” he said Saturday night.
“This is a 70-year-old grandmother, this is in front of her six-year-old granddaughter, and now is the time to step up and come forward and provide us with information that we need as to who the identity of this offender is”
Local doctor Ademola Afolabi said he heard a small child crying for help and rushed over to her.
“I was just walking in front of the Aldi and I heard a little girl shout for help ‘my grandma is dead’,” he said.
“I followed her down to the underground parking lots.
“I saw a lady in a pool of blood, she was unresponsive, so I called triple-0.”
Dr Afolabi said he and other witnesses had tried to save the woman’s life.
“There was no pulse. We tried some CPR, but there was nothing. A nurse came around at some point but it was too late. They didn’t give her a chance,” he said.
Dr Afolabi said he was at the shopping centre buying dinner when he heard the distressed screams from the young girl, who he described as “no older than six” and “was very articulate” despite the circumstances.
“A little girl shouldn’t have to witness that,” he said.
Despite having witnessed distressing scenes in the past due to his line of work, Dr Afolabi said he had never seen anything as shocking as what he had witnessed on Saturday night.
“She was in a pool of blood mostly on the left side,” he said. “Her pants were soaked in blood, probably bleeding from the chest area. But we didn’t move anything.
“The only contact I had with her was to do CPR. I’ve seen quite a fair bit of dead people, but nothing like this.”
On Sunday morning residents about Redbank Plains walked past police tape and flowers as they shopped for groceries.
Passers-by contributed to the pile of bouquets that had been left in tribute to the slain grandmother.
As police continued their investigations at the scene a petition was started to implement regular police patrols at the shopping centre.
Acquiring over 700 signatures in 12 hours the petition, started by Taylah Jefferson, said the horrific incident was not isolated.
“It adds to a growing list of assaults, thefts, and abuse that have been plaguing our community,” it said.
“We no longer feel safe going to the shops or simply enjoying the public spaces in our own neighbourhood.”
The organiser claimed Redbank Plains has seen an “alarming” increase in crime rates over recent years.
“According to Queensland Government’s Crime Map data, there were 1,442 reported offences in Redbank Plains between July 2020 and June 2021 alone (Queensland Government Crime Map),” said the petition.
“These incidents range from violent crimes like assault and robbery to property crimes such as theft and vandalism.”
It said the lack of a regular police presence at Town Square has left residents feeling “vulnerable and fearful for our safety”.
“We believe that implementing regular police patrols can deter potential criminals and provide a sense of security for residents who simply want to live their lives without fear,” wrote the organiser.
“We urge local law enforcement agencies and city officials to take immediate action by increasing police visibility at Redbank Plains Town Square. Let’s work together towards making our community safer for everyone.”
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