Police charge more youths over alleged assault of man, 75

Two boys, aged 16 and 15, have also been charged over the alleged grievous bodily harm of a 75-year-old man outside a Toowoomba shopping centre as disturbing video of the incident emerges.

Two boys, aged 16 and 15, have also been charged over the alleged grievous bodily harm of a 75-year-old man outside Grand Central Shopping Centre at Toowoomba on Monday.

The 17-year-old boy has been charged with armed robbery with violence, grievous bodily harm and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.

Police said on Wednesday night that the 16-year-old boy has been charged with armed robbery and grievous bodily harm.

The 15-year-old boy has been charged with burglary, enter dwelling and commit, stealing and two counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle.

Each of the four made appearances before the Toowoomba Children’s Court on Thursday.

One of the four applied for bail but was refused and was remanded in custody.

The other three made no application for bail and were also remanded in custody with all set to return to the same court on March 16.

A 13-year-old boy was also taken into custody in relation to an unrelated robbery investigation and several other recent property crime offences.

The 75-year-old North Toowoomba man was waiting at a taxi-rank on Margaret Street at approximately 5pm when he was allegedly pushed from behind, causing him to fall to the ground, before his backpack was stolen.

Police swarmed on the Toowoomba CBD after a 75-year-old man was assaulted and left in a critical condition about 5.10pm on February 6. Picture: Nev Madsen.

The man was taken to hospital with serious head injuries in a critical condition.

Polair and police tracked an allegedly stolen vehicle following the incident, which was intercepted on Hermitage Road at approximately 8.40pm.

Police said the two occupants allegedly left the scene on foot.

The dog squad were deployed and located the pair, an 18-year-old man and 16-year-old boy, a short time later hiding in bushland.

They were taken into custody and charged.

Paramedics found the 75-year-old man on the ground, without a pulse. Picture: Nev Madsen.

Following further extensive investigations police on Wednesday, police said they attended a Drayton address where a 17-year-old boy, a 16-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy were taken into custody without incident.

In relation the youngest boy, it will be alleged at approximately 7pm on February 4, a group approached a 37-year-old man making a deposit at an ATM at a James Street shopping centre in Newtown, and stole a quantity of cash.

The man was not physically injured.

The 13-year-old boy has been charged with robbery, attempted enter premises with intent, enter premises with intent, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and two counts each of stealing and possess dangerous drugs (subutex and cannabis) and he will appear before Toowoomba Children’s Court.

Police are providing support to the family of the 75-year-old man, who remains in a critical condition.

The family would like to thank the community for their support and request privacy at this time.

Investigators would like to thank the community for their assistance and continue to appeal to anyone with information or relevant dashcam footage to come forward.

CALLS FOR ACTION AFTER ALLEGED CBD ATTACK

A violent alleged robbery in front of Toowoomba’s busiest shopping centre in broad daylight has left an elderly man fighting for his life and sent shockwaves through the community leading to calls for major youth crime reforms.

Toowoomba MPs Trevor Watts and David Janetzki called for action, challenging Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to make the trip up the range and meet with the Garden City’s long list of victims of youth crime.

“Crime in Toowoomba has reached an unacceptable level and the Palaszczuk Government’s inaction is definitely a problem for our community,” Mr Watts said.

“Multiple times a week we have people contact our offices, telling us there has been a break in, an attempted break in or their car has been stolen.

“This is happening across our community but for it to happen in our main street is completely unacceptable and the government must resource the police and the courts with all the requirements they have to enforce the law and they must upgrade the law so there are consequences for actions.”

Calling for the Queensland Government to increase police resources are (from left) Toowoomba North MP Trevor Watts and Toowoomba South MP David Janetzki.

Police allege that Isaac Zane Cubby, 18, exited a stolen vehicle near the Margaret Street taxi rank in front of Grand Central Shopping Centre about 5.10pm on Monday and assaulted 75-year-old man who was living with impairments.

Detective Inspector Heath McQueen described the alleged assault as “cowardly”.

“The 18-year-old male has (allegedly) approached the male victim from behind while he was attempting to flag down a taxi,” he said.

“The male has (allegedly) shoved the male victim in the back, causing him to fall forward without support onto his head on the roadway causing significant injuries to his neck, head and spine.”

Police further allege Mr Cubby then snatched the man’s backpack and fled in a stolen Hyundai Tucson.

Police are searching for this backpack, which they believe was dumped close to the Toowoomba CBD.

Inspector McQueen said police would continue their search for others allegedly involved in the incident and the matter remained an active investigation.

“It is highly likely the man will not survive,” he said.

Queensland Ambulance Service Darling Downs senior operations supervisor Brad Setch said paramedics were at the scene within three minutes, finding the man in cardiac arrest and with no pulse.

The crews restarted his heart within minutes before taking him to Toowoomba Hospital in a critical condition.

“We were very lucky under the circumstances that we got the return of spontaneous circulation,” Mr Setch said.

CUBBY ARRESTED AFTER THREE HOUR MANHUNT

Mr Cubby was arrested after a three-hour manhunt involving dozens of police, a Polair helicopter crew and the dog squad.

He is charged with one count each of grievous bodily harm, robbery using personal violence, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and enter dwelling and commit.

He remained in the watch house when his matters were mentioned before Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Duty lawyer Ryan McCullough said there would be no application for bail on his client’s behalf and asked for an adjournment so police could put together a brief of evidence on the allegations against Mr Cubby.

Magistrate Clare Kelly adjourned the case for mention on March 28.

The incident comes just a week after a pack of three teens forced their way into homes at Preston and Kearney Springs, armed with a hammer.

At one address they assaulted a man and put him in hospital with minor facial injuries.

In early January an elderly woman was forced to barricade herself in her car after two young boys threatened her with a knife at the Northpoint Shopping Centre.

Police locked down part of the Toowoomba CBD after the assault. Picture: Nev Madsen.

According to QPS data there has been a steady increase in the number of robberies in the Darling Downs over the past six months with 17 offences recorded in December, up from eight in August.

Unlawful use of a motor vehicle offence also spiked in December, with 128 offences recorded, up from an annual low of 75 in October.

Insp McQueen said police are working to reduce youth offending.

“We have multiple operations that are being conducted, and are applying a number of resources to address these issues, particularly in the prevention and disruption space,” he said.

“We have apprehended a significant number of criminals over the past 12 months but we are still seeing offences like this.

“We have the top ten per cent of young offenders committing 50 per cent of the youth crime, we are doing our best to deal with them.”

Meanwhile, Mr Watts said this escalation is evidence that the Government must act and increase police resources.

“In January I called for the Government to recall parliament to get on with this legislation and we have seen multiple incidents in Toowoomba since then because of the lack of action,” he said.

“We have been asking questions about how many police are available to be rostered on and what are the current levels of policing in the Toowoomba but the government doesn’t want to give us a simple answer.

“They don’t want to admit that they don’t have a big enough roster to cover the crime wave we have experienced.

“People are afraid to go shopping in the main streets.”

Queelsand Police Minister Mark Ryan hit back at the Mr Watts criticism, saying the government was making the biggest investment in policing in Queensland in more than three decades that would bring 150 extra police to Toowoomba.

“You simply cannot trust Trevor Watts and the LNP when it comes to policing matters – the LNP cuts police numbers, the government boosts police numbers,” he said.

The LNP went to the last election promising to cut the number of extra police the government is delivering to the Southern Region, which includes Toowoomba, by 150 police officers.

“That’s right, the LNP were promising to dramatically cut the extra police going to Toowoomba and surrounding areas.

“In stark contrast, last year in Toowoomba we announced 29 new frontline police officer positions and a new Mobile Police Beat.

“And let’s also not forget also, that under the LNP the Newtown Police Beat was shut down.

“The Palaszczuk Government not only reversed that closure, but went further and built a completely new police facility at Newtown, which no one driving along Bridge Street could possibly miss.

“And the government has already built a new dedicated police facility at Highfields.”

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Originally published as Police charge more youths over alleged assault of man, 75