Townsville crime: Cranbrook woman, 63, assaulted in violent carjacking

A 63-year-old woman has been taken to hospital following a violent carjacking. It comes just after police announced new high visibility patrols of Townsville’s shopping centres to tackle crime.

A 63-year-old woman has been taken to hospital after being assaulted during a violent carjacking in Cranbrook.

Police are investigating after a Cranbrook woman, 63, was assaulted and her vehicle stolen outside a Poinciana Street residence just after 5pm on Wednesday.

The woman sustained a head and foot injury and was transported to Townsville University Hospital in a stable condition.

The vehicle, a beige volkswagon was later located abandoned along Sabadell Street, Kirwan.

Another vehicle, a Mazda, was located burned out and abandoned in Cambridge Street in Gulliver this morning and is also being investigated for links to the crime.

Another burned out car was also present in Cambridge Street.

An eyewitness to the burning of the cars said that a ‘convoy’ of vehicles had been seen driving dangerously in the early hours of the morning, before the car that had been burned peeled away and began doing doughnuts on Cambridge Street

They said that multiple calls had been lodged with emergency services but there was a significant wait, and it wasn’t until the vehicle had been set alight and firefighters were called that emergency services arrived.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services responded to the scene, extinguishing the fire before police arrived to investigate the area.

One witness said the wait time for police to arrive had been ‘over half an hour’.

Acting Deputy Commissioner Mark Wheeler said there would always be situations in which police were not able to attend situations immediately.

“There will be times where operational priorities and other operational aspects impede our ability to get to a job, that’s been that way since 1864,” Deputy Commissioner Wheeler said.

“We’ve always had to prioritise jobs, of course jobs where personal safety is in immediate danger, they are the priority and we get to every job as fast as we can.

“I’m confident in the police response and I’m really confident in the tactics used by police on the ground.”

Police Minister Mark Ryan said he was concerned about ‘any offending’, no matter where it took place and that new drone technology would help police respond rapidly.

“I’m very confident that our police work very hard to interrupt offending as quickly as possible.”

Two burned out cars discovered in Cambridge Street in Gulliver this morning.

Investigations continue, anyone with information is asked to come forward. Anonymous reports can be made.

The drama comes after the announcement of a new, permanent police operation to provide high visibility patrols through Townsville’s shopping centres.

The operation, dubbed Victor Unison, will roll out proactive policing and patrols across the state as part of a wider policy building on the prior Operation Uniform Theta.

Images of two burned out cars discovered in Gulliver this morning posted to social media. Photo: Facebook.

Townsville has experienced a number of violent and dangerous crimes recently at shopping centres, with teens seen brawling and a stolen car tearing through the Willows shopping centre car park over the final week of February.

Operation Victor Unison’s focus will be broader than just shopping centres but Queensland Police Service Acting Deputy Commissioner Mark Wheeler said the police had seen a clear need to step up patrols and increase ‘back to basics’ policing after liaising with the community.

Originally published as Townsville crime: Cranbrook woman, 63, assaulted in violent carjacking