Woman stabbed, knife held to toddler: Man jailed over frenzied attack on strangers

A Brisbane man has been sentenced over what a judge described a “mindless violence” against strangers at a service station and Zarraffa’s west of Brisbane.

A two-year-old girl is caught up in a carjacking at a coffee shop and service station at Booval on April 1, 2023. Picture: 7 News

A Brisbane man has been jailed for altercations at a service station over multiple carjacking attempts.

Jake Jefferson Peters, 27, was charged with three counts of assault occasioning bodily harm whilst armed, one count of attempted armed burglary and one count of deprivation of liberty.

He was also charged with two counts of entering a vehicle with internet whilst armed, one count of entering premises and stealing and six other summary offences.

The Albion man pleaded guilty to all offences on Tuesday in Ipswich District Court.

Crown prosecutor Lauren Knobel said the then 25-year-old attended an Ipswich property while armed with a long straw broom on April 1 last year.

“When confronted, the defendant ran from the property,” she said.

“Immediately following this, the defendant ran through Cameron Park towards Brisbane Road, while still holding the blue broom handle.

“He ran across the road and towards the Coles Express on Brisbane road.”

Ms Knobel said then 41-year-old victim Elaine Rose was ordering at Booval Zarraffa’s coffee drive through.

“The defendant ran into the drive through and hopped into the front passenger seat,” he said.

“(He) threatened complainant Rose to ‘give me your f – king keys and get out the car’.

“He produced a knife and said, ‘I’m not f – king joking with you.

“(Ms) Rose immediately hopped out of the car and ran towards the front door of Coles Express.”

As Ms Rose ran towards the petrol browsers, the defendant tackled her from behind, causing her to fall onto the ground on her left side.

“The defendant held her by her hair in one hand whilst he held the knife to her face and throat,” Ms Knobel said.

“The complaint screamed out for help.”

Elaine Rose screamed as she was held her by her hair had a knife held to her face. She suffered multiple injuries. Picture: supplied

A 25-year-old father, who was nearby, noticed and told the defendant to stop.

The defendant requested the East Ipswich man to give him his keys instead, but he refused, stating his kid was inside.

“The defendant let go of (Ms) Rose … and punched him in the face under his right eye, which caused some bruising,” Ms Knobel said.

The defendant then approached his ute and opened the rear right door, grabbing his toddler and holding the knife against her face.

The father and another nearby man managed to rescue the girl after a brief wrestling.

Peters entered Zarraffa’s and paced around the seating areas inside the store, stealing a baseball cap from the shelf.

Ms Rose and three employees locked themselves in the back bathroom.

He tried to go there but a worker stopped him and said “there’s a woman out there who was frightened of him”.

He replied he “didn’t mean to scare her” and pushed the worker before he locked the door next to the preparation area.

“He ignored her and approached the bathroom door where the others were hiding,” Ms Knobel said.

“The defendant banged his face in the bathroom door and yelled ‘let me in’.”

Police observed the defendant was still holding a knife when they arrived.

“They produced their firearms and issued commands for the defendant to drop the knife,” Ms Knobel said.

“The defendant saw the police and ran out the back and exited the store through the drive-thru window.

“The defendant was transported to the Richlands watch-house when he was unable to be interviewed due to his level of intoxication.”

Ms Knobel said the victims were not previously known to the defendant.

Ms Rose sustained a 2cm laceration to her scalp and a 2cm laceration to the right side of her jaw with a palpable haematoma underneath.

She also had a less than 1cm laceration to her right distal wrist, abrasions over her left shoulder to left elbow and bruising to her knees.

The father had a 2cm laceration on his face, abrasion to the right anterior chest wall, and a small abrasion to his left calf.

His toddler suffered from multiple lacerations to her forehead and left temporal region and facial abrasions.

Ms Knobel said the risk to the victims were clear as the defendant held the knife throughout the entirety of the offending.

“He brandished the weapon beyond just arming himself and holding it,” she said.

“He actively held it to the complaint’s throat, causing her injury.

“The defendant was not deterred by bystanders intervening.

“In fact, the defendant then directed his assault at them and attempted to take another car with a small child inside.”

Judge John Allen said Peters had a disadvantaged upbringing which caused his substance abuse and subsequent offending.

He also said a clinical psychologist indicated the defendant’s presentation was consistent with a diagnosis of severe post traumatic stress from trauma experience both in prison and outside prison.

“A combination of your methamphetamine abuse at the time and your post traumatic stress symptoms which triggered the behaviour leading to your offending,” he said.

“In a short space of frenzy mindless violence, you managed to cause significant damage to a number of innocent people.”

Mr Allen sentenced Peters to five years’ jail, with a parole eligible from December 1, and declared his 514 days in pre-sentence custody as served.

Convictions were all recorded.

Ms Rose told The Courier-Mail after court she had gotten a permanent scar on her face, head and back and lost “everything” after the incident.

“I ended up losing my job, and I just went through a lot of financial hardship because of it as well,” she said.

“I just became very isolated, and I literally felt like a failure.

“I’m sympathetic to his upbringing, and obviously you don’t ever want to hear about people’s pasts and stuff like that.

“But even me at the time of having to sell everything I own to pay bills and losing my house, I’ve still never gone out and robbed or stolen from someone.

“So people make those choices.”

She hoped Peters can learn from this and seriously think about the impacts he’s caused to other people.