Daryl Hippi, 20, pleads guilty to break and enter and car theft

Ten days after his release from prison, a young man embarked on a two-day crime spree across Toowoomba, exposing his misdeeds on Snapchat along the way.

Picture: Supplied

In the midst of a two-day crime spree, a young Toowoomba man attempted to take a woman’s car as she stood only footsteps away.

Daryl Toolulla Hippi pleaded guilty before Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Tuesday to thirteen property, obstruction and traffic offences including four unlawful uses of a motor vehicle and various break and enter charges.

The 20-year-old had only been released from custody 10 days before committing the crimes, all of which occurred in a two-day period from October 12 to 14, 2024.

The court heard Hippi attempted to break into and broke into multiple homes and premises across Newtown and East Toowoomba, also stealing a Toyota RAV4, grey BMW and Mitsubishi Outlander.

Police prosecutor Acting Sergeant Chris Willson told the court in the midst of his offending Hippi attempted to steal a car while its owner was loading it up.

“The defendant and co-offender have driven past the complainant in the stolen BMW while the complainant was loading property into her car,” Sergeant Willson said.

“ (Hippi) got out of the stolen BMW and approached the complainant’s vehicle … (she) has realised someone is in her vehicle … the co-offender has demanded the vehicle keys and she’s run away terrified.”

The pair then fled in the stolen BMW, having failed to obtain the keys to the woman’s car.

Less than two hours later Hippi was reported driving dangerously through Toowoomba, with Polair tracking the stolen car for several hours.

“(They were) running red lights, driving on the wrong side of the road towards oncoming traffic and putting all road users at extreme risk of serious injury or death,” Sergeant Willson said.

On October 12, Hippi was spotted driving a stolen Toyota RAV4 in convoy with another stolen vehicle through Newtown when police deployed tyre spikes, cordoning the other stolen vehicle.

Ten minutes later, Hippi returned to the area, still driving the stolen RAV4 and not at all hiding his identity from police.

The young offender further publicised his crimes on social media, later uncovered by police.

“Police identified several Snapchat videos depicting the defendant and his co-offenders in the stolen grey BMW,” Sergeant Willson told the court.

At the time of the offending, Hippi was on probation and subject to a suspended sentence for similar offending and barred from holding a drivers licence.

Hippi’s solicitor Michael Corbin claimed Hippi suffered a traumatic childhood and formed a bad image of police.

“His exposure to the police from a young age was always of a negative nature; not because of his direct interactions with them but because of what he saw in relation to their interactions with his extended family,” Mr Corbin said.

“He’s always had a very poor impression of police and been very wary of dealing with them which in some ways explains some of the circumstances we see here today – avoiding the police and trying to avoid capture.

Mr Corbin added Hippi was at risk of becoming institutionalised if constantly pushed back into prison.

“He himself admits he doesn’t know what he would do with himself on release,” Mr Corbin said.

“It’s more an issue of working out the right way to deal with authority.”

Hippi was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment with 86 days of presentence custody declared as time already served.

He was further disqualified from driving for 14 months.

Hippi will be eligible for parole on January 30, 2025.

Originally published as Daryl Hippi, 20, pleads guilty to break and enter and car theft