Julie-Anne Richards: Brazen armed robbers failed carjacking

A 20-year-old woman will spend the rest of the year in jail after slashing a woman with a knife during an attempted car theft that came undone after realising she couldn’t drive a manual.

A 20-year-old woman will spend the rest of the year in jail after slashing a woman with a knife during an attempted car theft that came undone after realising she couldn’t drive a manual.

Julie-Anne Richards recently pleaded guilty to two counts of armed robbery in company in the District Court in Beenleigh.

The court heard the 20-year-old former Bunnings employee approached a woman walking to her car on Lambert St near the Indooroopilly train station on January 31, 2020.

Richards was holding a 10-20cm knife and told the woman, “Don’t scream, give me your keys.”

The woman refused, a struggle ensued, and the woman was slashed with the knife on her left forearm.

The 20-year-old, who was high on ice, grabbed the woman and swung her to the ground forcing her keys also to fall out.

Richards took them, looked in the car and then said: “S**t it’s a manual!” before running away with the group of people she was with.

Police found Richards later back at the Indooroopilly train station with the stolen car keys.

The court heard she was involved in another armed robbery involving a man at Woodridge train station on May 22, 2020.

The victim had been on the train with a backpack carrying wireless speakers, a mobile phone, and some cask wine.

He was approached by a man who offered him to go back to a friend’s place for some food, and they got off at Woodridge, where Richards and another man met up with the pair.

After luring him away into a secluded area, she yelled out, “He is a child molester. He tried to rape my kids.”

One of the other men punched the victim to the left eye, which causes him to fall to the ground and lose his backpack.

Richards then kicked the victim several times to the left ribs while he was on the ground, and the other men also punched him a few times.

The group tried to take his watch and wallet but were unsuccessful and ended up running away when a passer-by intervened.

The man was taken to Logan Hospital with swelling and bruising to his left eye and abrasions to his left hand.

Richards’ lawyers said she had been diagnosed with anxiety and depression due to her tumultuous childhood and was on drugs during both robberies.

She was sentenced to three years imprisonment with a parole release date on December 20 this year.