Affluent Brisbane suburb in grips of terrifying crime wave

Residents of the affluent Brisbane suburb of Ascot are too afraid to walk in their own backyards due to a terrifying new crime wave, with thefts hitting a two-year high.

Exploding crime in an affluent Brisbane suburb is leaving residents scared to walk in their own backyards as thieves wreak havoc through their streets.

Ascot resident Lucy Morgan, 46, is one of many recent victims of crime when she came face-to-face with the thief of her Mercedes and forked out thousands of dollars in repairs and excess.

The ordeal unfolded just a week after Ms Morgan and her husband made the move from Sydney to their new Queenslander home in leafy Ascot.

It was 4.30am on Sunday morning when their dogs started barking and Ms Morgan got up to see what the fuss was about.

Ascot resident Lucy Morgan came face-to-face with a teenager who stole her Mercedes in the middle of the night. Picture: Jamie Hanson

Ms Morgan was already dealing with the emotions of a family death when, in her sleep-deprived haze, he came face-to-face with a “teenager”.

“He was quite tall, he covered his face pretty quickly and just bolted,” Ms Morgan said.

“I screamed very loudly, I was pretty shaky and called triple-0.” The intruder, who Ms Morgan thinks was a teenager, ran off with their set of house keys, keys to their Mazda, and their brand new Mercedes.

“I didn’t see him drive away, he was that quick.”

Ms Morgan used the internal GPS location system in the hi-tech car to track it as the thief drove it from their house, but a few minutes later it went off the radar. The thief had turned it off.

“We found it that night, it had the Mazda keys in it and police are still sweeping it for needles and drugs.”

Ms Morgan said the hidden struggle with having your home violated was the cost and the hours on the phone to insurers.

“It cost us $1300 to replace all the locks … $1800 excess all together.”

Ascot is in the grips of a terrifying new crime wave.

Ms Morgan moved to Brisbane from Sydney to be closer to family, but says she has never felt so unsafe in a city.

“We moved here because my husband said that the lifestyle would be better and it was less expensive and mostly to be close to our parents and our family.

“It’s a completely different experience to what I expected. You think you should be able to be safe on your own property.”

Break-ins in the Ascot area skyrocketed in November to the highest number of monthly offences in two years.

So far this month, 17 break-ins have been reported and five stolen cars.

Ms Morgan said crime was rampant in their area, and sooner or later someone was going to pay the ultimate price.

“People are going to get killed.

“These kids haven’t been driving for very long, they are going to kill someone.

“Police are at a loss, there are no repercussions at all, they don’t care so it seems like a revolving door.”

Police have arrested two teenagers over the break-in and theft at Ms Morgan’s property, as well as multiple other incidents.

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with four counts of enter premises and two counts of attempted enter premises.

A 17-year-old Zillmere boy has been charged with one count each of enter premises with intent to commit indictable offence, fraud and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.