‘Where are the crocs when you need them?’: stolen car victim speaks out

A dad of five says a night-time break-in has rattled his young family, with the police chopper tracking down their stolen car and those allegedly responsible after trying to flee into a creek.

Kirwan resident Rhys Bell in front of his partner’s car which was stolen in the early hours of Friday morning before being located by police.

Rhys Bell and his family were asleep in the early hours of Friday morning when thieves broke into their Kirwan home, stealing his partner’s handbag and taking off in her car.

“It was a massive shock because we woke up to do the school run and then my neighbour came to our door and said ‘hey your door is wide open and your car is gone’,” Mr Bell said.

“This is like the first ever brand new car that (my partner) has ever bought herself so she was pretty distraught when it was gone this morning.”

Stolen car near the Rooney Bridge in Railway Estate. Picture: Evan Morgan

Police responded to an initial call at 10.16am on Friday morning and soon located the car with minor damage including scrapes on the front bumper and four flat tyres.

Mr Bell said that the thieves allegedly ran from the vehicle to a nearby creek where they attempted to hide from the police helicopter.

“Where were the crocs when you needed them, so much for croc country,” Mr Bell said.

Mr Bell has five kids including one-year-old twins, and said it was frightening to have an incident like this happen but was happy with the quick police response.

“It definitely wasn’t a great feeling to know someone was walking around in the house while you were asleep,” he said.

Stolen car near the Rooney Bridge in Railway Estate. Picture: Evan Morgan

“My oldest two were pretty distraught … my older son was kind of like ‘were they in the house while I was asleep?’

“(My partner) is just happy, not looking forward to having to replace four new tyres and the front bumper lights, but that’s cheaper than replacing the whole car.”

Mr Bell said that he believes young offenders should be sent out to camps to do hard work as penance for their crimes.

“Things need to be changed, I don’t think juvie is the right option, they just go in there and they make more friends that are criminals,” he said.

“I’m a strong believer that maybe they need to go out to a camp and work hard for farmers, farmers aren’t going to put up with it.”

Four people have been taken into police custody over the incident, with a police spokeswoman saying the group were “assisting police with their inquiries”.

“The vehicle was tracked for some time by aerial assets and officers who spotted it travelling around the Townsville area (Friday) morning, before a successful deployment of a tyre deflation device at Railway Estate,” the spokeswoman said.

“The occupants of the car allegedly fled on foot before officers took them into custody nearby in Oonoonba.”

Originally published as ‘Where are the crocs when you need them?’: stolen car victim speaks out