Mike O’Connor: Qld youth justice approach means no one feels safe

As an expert says the Palaszczuk government has been “asleep at the wheel” on fixing crime in our state, a home-invasion victim has told her harrowing story.

• Shot fired in terrifying Brisbane home invasion

When home invasions turn violent, the tragic results hit the headlines while the damage inflicted on those victims who suffer emotional rather than physical trauma goes largely unreported.

This is one such case, as told to me by a wife and mother who thought her suburban home was a safe haven.

“I was starting a new casual job on this day so I got up a bit earlier and went downstairs,” she said.

“The first thing I noticed was that it seemed unusually cool.

“It was then I noticed that the sliding door was open so I went back upstairs and asked my husband if he’d been up early checking on the pool.

“It was then we realised that something wasn’t right.

Criminologist and former senior police officer Terry Goldsworthy says the Palaszczuk government has “been asleep at the wheel” on crime rates. Picture: Richard Gosling

“We went downstairs and found they’d taken my husband’s wallet, ransacked my handbag, found the car keys and stolen my husband’s SUV.

“Our home is like Fort Knox. We’ve got Crimsafe, locked gates, fences, the lot but they still got in.

“The police arrived eventually, by which time my husband had taken my car and was tracking his stolen car using an app on his phone, following it through the northern suburbs.

“The culprits were caught red-handed, one being charged with breaking and entering and two others with unlawful use of a motor vehicle.

“All three had a previous criminal history and all three were let off and told to undergo ‘counselling’.

“I know we were fortunate that we didn’t disturb them in the house and that they didn’t come upstairs.

“We weren’t injured physically so it could have been a lot worse, but it has taken an emotional and financial toll.

The Courier-Mail highlighted a case of a teenage car thief and burglar charged with more than 80 offences with not a single conviction recorded.

“I was so stressed after it happened that I’d find myself vomiting and I have become obsessive about security.

“We’ve spent a fortune upgrading our home security and now have eight cameras installed around the house and have upgraded all our alarm systems and sleep with the house alarm turned on.

“I keep every door to the house locked all day when I am home.

“If the kids want to go out into the yard, I unlock the door, let them out and then lock it again.

“A few days after my husband got his car back, the engine failed, presumably from being abused by the thieves.

“It is going to take months and months to get a new engine so we have had to buy another car.

“It is that dreadful feeling that your home has been invaded that is the worst.

Increasing maximum sentences for crimes “sounds good, but they will have very little impact”, says criminologist and former senior police officer Terry Goldsworthy. Picture: iStock

“That and the fact that apart from spending more and more on security, there doesn’t seem to be much you can do about it.

”The police we spoke to were as disillusioned by the whole youth justice system, or lack of it, as we were.

“One begged me to write a statement detailing the impact this has had on our family and give it to a politician.”

The woman’s story lacks the drama required to project it on to the front page.

It’s just an ordinary story told by an ordinary person, but it is one being repeated daily in our suburbs.

The ongoing failure of the system was underlined by the case, revealed by this newspaper, of a teenage car thief and burglar charged with more than 80 offences with not a single conviction recorded.

The Palaszczuk government’s response has been to increase the maximum sentencing for some charges, a move dismissed by criminologist and former senior police officer Terry Goldsworthy as “smoke and mirrors”.

Queenslanders now believe no one is safe and that it is a matter of time before they and their families become a crime statistic, says Mike O’Connor.

“They have been asleep at the wheel,” he said.

“Increasing maximum sentences sounds good, but they will have very little impact.

“What the government should have considered was increasing the minimum terms, and changes to bail.

“The issue around (introducing) breach of bail is a no-brainer to me.

“The short-term offending cycle is where you need to step in to protect the community ... it is the long term where you start talking about rehabilitation.

“In this scenario, they’re not being rehabilitated anyway, and the community is not being protected.”

He’s right. The government’s usual response to criticism is to agree that something must be done and then do nothing in the hope that the issue will fade away.

That’s not going to happen for the feeling in the suburbs now is that no one is safe and that it is a matter of time before they and their families become a crime statistic.