Youths pose with Mustang after it was stolen from home in affluent Gold Coast estate

Throwing up the middle finger, these youths just don’t care. They snuck into a home in an affluent suburb and stole a prize Ford Mustang GT – and bragged about it online.

BRAZEN youths posted photos on social media showing them posing with a Ford Mustang GT and bragging about driving it at high speed after it was stolen in Helensvale.

The car was taken from a garage at the exclusive Surrounds development on Thursday afternoon before being found badly damaged in Guanaba just after 9am on Saturday.

Police have since charged a 15-year-old girl with two counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle, assault occasioning bodily harm and fraud.

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with unlawful use of a motor vehicle.

Owner Marc Riddell said he was shocked by the theft, which occurred in broad daylight while both he and his partner were at home.

“They took it on Thursday at about 4.30 in the afternoon,” he said.

“My girlfriend was sitting on the couch. She didn’t hear anything. I had it locked in the garage with the door down.

“They’ve come in and got the key, on my key there’s a fob to open the garage door, they’ve opened the garage door. They must have pushed it out of the garage, down the driveway, and taken off.

“I was home myself, I was upstairs listening to some music. They did all this while both of us were at home.”

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Mr Riddell said he was surprised the crime had taken place in the quiet estate.

“I just couldn’t believe it, especially in this area,” he said.

“We assumed it’s pretty safe here.

“I was pretty shocked. Most people I tell, they can’t believe that they would come in, open the garage door and just push it out.

“I had an old washing machine in the driveway. They’ve moved that. Forensics came around and dusted it and she said ‘they must have had gloves on’.”

The car was sighted driving at speed in a number of northern Gold Coast suburbs including Pacific Pines and Oxenford before being located by police on Saturday morning.

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Marc Riddell with partner Oxana outside their home at The Surrounds in Helensvale. Picture: Keith Woods.

Although Mr Riddell had comprehensive insurance, he expects replacing the car will still leave him many thousands out of pocket.

He said he was now considering installing expensive security systems at his home.

“We’re just going to have to be super careful,” he said.

The theft is the latest in a series of similar incidents across the Gold Coast. In Palm Beach alone, 15 vehicles were stolen in the two weeks to Sunday October 10.

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A POLITICAL row has broken out over youth crime following Bulletin revelations about the shocking number of car thefts in southern Gold Coast suburbs.

Speaking in Southport, opposition leader David Crisafulli said “the law was broken” and youth criminals were “laughing at us”.

But a state government spokesperson rejected the comments, saying young offenders were being refused bail at double the rate they were under the last LNP government.

“If you don’t have a situation where you have consequences for actions, of course you’re going to have a revolving door of youth criminals,” Mr Crisafulli said.

“They know their way through the law. They drive a truck through it. They laugh at us. They thumb their nose.

“And it is the victim who has less rights than the perpetrator.”

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A stolen van lies on its side after being crashed at Nind St in Southport earlier this month. Picture: Keith Woods.

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Mr Crisafulli said breach of bail “should be an offence” for young offenders.

“If you say that breach of bail isn’t an offence what you’re effectively saying is you have to wait for the second vehicle to be stolen before you take action,” Mr Crisafulli said.

“If breaching your bail conditions isn’t an offence you are telling the young criminal, until you commit another offence, we can’t ping you.”

Mr Crisafulli added that he believed police numbers had failed to keep pace with population growth on the Gold Coast.

“We are well and truly short of police in this state and on the Gold Coast I would argue we’re below our quota even further,” he said.

“If you look at the growth of police numbers in Queensland and track it against the growth of population, we have not grown at the rate of population growth.

“At a time when people are moving to Queensland, that should send alarm bells to everybody that we need more resources, particularly on the Gold Coast.”

Youths caught on CCTV allegedly attempting to break into houses in Palm Beach.

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Mr Crisafulli’s comments came after the Bulletin revealed that 15 vehicles had been stolen from Palm Beach in just two weeks, with offenders breaking into homes to access keys.

Victims told this newspaper the incidents had left residents of the suburb “living in fear”.

In response, a spokesperson for the state government said “everyone has a right to be safe and to feel safe” and “tough new laws” introduced in April were making a difference.

“Under the LNP, just 10 per cent of applications for bail in the Children’s Court were refused,” the spokesperson said.

“Since the introduction of the tough new laws earlier this year by the (state government) 20 per cent of applications for bail have been refused – double the proportion that were refused under the LNP’s laws.

“Police are also appealing certain bail decisions with a decision to grant bail overturned by a judge in Far North Queensland being the latest example.

“There are more police on the Gold Coast than there ever has been and even more on the way as we deliver 2025 extra police personnel across Queensland over the next five years.”

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Originally published as Youths pose with Mustang after it was stolen from home in affluent Gold Coast estate