CAUGHT: Gympie’s youngest crims to go off the rails
From a drunk teenager who smashed Pizza Hut’s window while on the hunt for a late-night snack, to an 18-year-old who attacked his dad to steal his gun, here are six Gympie criminals who went off the rails at a young age and felt the long arm of the law.
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Out of all the criminal cases finalised in Gympie Magistrates Court this year, these six youths were the youngest to be convicted of significant crimes.
From a drunk teenager who smashed Pizza Hut’s window while on the hunt for a late-night snack, to an 18-year-old who attacked his dad to steal his gun, these young criminals who went off the rails in 2021.
1. Teen in Gympie rooftop stand-off was after cocaine stash
An 18-year-old man was convicted in Gympie Magistrates Court for climbing on to the roof of a shop on a busy Gympie road and causing significant damage.
Lachlan Christopher Anderson pleaded guilty to wilful damage and unregulated, high risk activity, after he was found on the roof of Ginger’s Convenience Store in Horseshoe Bend at midnight on April 5.
The court heard police were called to the scene for a traffic hazard, only to discover Anderson up on the roof, throwing objects at passing cars.
Anderson was found in possession of several glass light bulbs, which he was also found occasionally throwing at the roadside and causing them to smash.
Police also found damage to the convenience store, including two floodlights with the wires exposed and the destruction of a roof sign, caused by relentless pushing and pulling by Anderson.
Anderson was fined $200, and ordered to pay $1571 in compensation for the damages to Ginger‘s.
2. Drunk teen smashes Pizza Hut windows while on hunt for snack
A 19-year-old who pleaded guilty at the end of February to shattering the window of Pizza Hut Gympie while looking for an early morning snack was handed a fine in Gympie Magistrates Court on March 15.
Kaiden Stewart James Warner was drinking in the early hours of January 10, when he started walking around Gympie‘s streets looking for a snack.
His first victim was Pizza Hut Gympie, where at 2am he tried to pull open the locked door a few times before kicking in one of the window panels and smashing the glass.
Police prosecutor Melissa Campbell told the court Warner then ran off to Hungry Jacks where he was found by police kicking the door and trying to get in.
He was fined $400 and was ordered to pay $2250 in restitution.
3. Gympie teenager attacked dad, threatened to choke him to steal gun
An Upper Glastonbury teenager was placed on probation after a court heard he took his father‘s gun using force and violent threats.
It was in the afternoon of March 5, when Adam Edward Carr, 18, decided he wanted to go pig hunting and became aggressive towards his father, dragging him towards a gun safe in the living room.
Carr then held his father from behind and pushed his head into the safe, saying, “Open the f..king safe or I‘ll choke you.”
Police prosecutor Melissa Campbell told the court that during the struggle, the keypad to the safe was unlocked and it was later revealed to be a defective lock.
Magistrate Chris Callaghan placed Carr on probation for 12 months with no conviction recorded due to his young age.
4. Gympie teen blows .102 on P-plates
An 18-year-old Gympie P-plater was stripped of his licence after being caught behind the wheel of a car while more than twice the legal limit acceptable for someone on their open licence.
Jack Brian Davies was pulled over by police while he was driving his Holden along Jane St about 11pm on December 15, 2020.
His roadside breath test returned a reading of .102.
Davies, a full-time manager at McDonald's who had no criminal history, pleaded guilty in Gympie Magistrates Court to driving while over the middle alcohol limit on a provisional licence.
Davies was fined $600 and was disqualified from holding a licence for three months.
5. Woman sentenced for fraud, drugs and joy ride in stolen car
A former equestrian rider and Victory College student who went off the rails after leaving the school left the Gympie Magistrate stunned in May 2021, over the number of offences she’d committed despite her age.
Chantslea Sue Curran, 20, pleaded guilty in Gympie Magistrates Court to fraud, stealing two cars, possessing cannabis and driving unlicensed.
Curran was also on probation from previous crimes at the time of offending, which was the second time she had breached a probation.
Police prosecutor Michael Phillips told the court Curran committed the stealing offence and fraud on the same day in October 2020, when she stole a car from Coochin Creek and drove it up the Bruce Highway.
She later filled the car with fuel before driving off without paying.
She was fined $750, disqualified from driving for two years, and sentenced to 10 months behind bars, but released immediately on parole.
6. Drunk teen crashed, wrote off car while on KFC run
A late-night trip to KFC while drunk turned a teenager‘s life upside down after he crashed his vehicle into an embankment, which left him and his friend injured, and landed him in legal hot water.
Gympie Magistrates Court heard 18-year-old Tyson Craig Woodrow had been drinking throughout the day on November 18, 2020 before he tried to drive to Gympie‘s KFC about 11pm.
The trip ended abruptly when he crashed head-on into an embankment near the intersection of Eel Creek Rd and Rocks Rd and police later recorded a 0.13 blood alcohol reading from the P-plater.
The crash put the New Auckland resident in Gympie Hospital with a fractured sternum and lower spinal injuries.
Woodrow was fined $70, and was disqualified from driving for three months.
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