Cruisin’ for a bruisin’: thugs toying with strangers’ lives in random drive-by attacks
THE thugs pile into a car and go on the prowl, looking for someone. We’re all targets. WARNING: Graphic images.
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WARNING: Graphic images
A GROUP of thugs pile into a car and go on the prowl.
They’re looking for someone, anyone, to bash.
They cruise the streets of coastal towns and city suburbs in search of, most often, a lone victim.
They spot a potential target and do a few laps around them, like sharks circling their prey, before pulling up the brake. Then they unload and attack; kicking, punching, stomping on their unassuming, defenceless victim.
Their intent is to inflict pain and assert their dominance. Sometimes it’s because they want to let off steam and show the world who’s boss. On other occasions, it’s just for fun or the pure thrill of it. Once the job is done they jump back in their car and take off as quickly as they came — leaving their battered and bloodied victim to pick up the pieces.
Car loads of thugs looking to start and finish a fight have long terrorised people on the streets of capital cities and regional towns in unprovoked ‘drive-by attacks’ across Australia.
A spate of recent and particularly brutal incidents in NSW and Victoria, has left several victims lucky to be alive.
Apprentice landscape gardener Joel Barker, 23, was the victim of an unprovoked ‘drive-by’ attack in Kincumber on the NSW Central Coast on Tuesday. He was still recovering from his injuries today.
His mother Theresa Callaghan said her son was walking home from work along Cullens Road in Kincumber when a car with two males in the front and one female in the back drove past him around 3.40pm on Tuesday.
“Joel was just walking along, so naturally looking around on his way back from work, and the driver asked him ‘what the f*** are you looking at?’” she said.
“Joel just shrugged and kept walking then the car then went around the roundabout and came back on the same side of the road as him.”
The male passenger then tried to get out of the car to “fight”, according to Ms Callaghan.
“My son slammed the car door shut so he couldn’t get out,” she said.
“The passenger then asked the girl in the back to pass what looked like a pool cue over to him.
“Joel moved away from the car then the passenger got out and smashed the pool cue over Joel’s head then again to the side of his head.”
The attacker then “got back into the car and took off”, according to Ms Callaghan.
“My son had so much blood coming out of his head and all over his face that he couldn’t get the numberplate of the car,” she said.
Ms Callaghan said her son was “devastated” about the attack.
“He doesn’t have enemies,” she said.
“He’s a caring person. To do it in broad daylight is just unbelievable. It’s so dangerous hitting someone over the head with a weapon. I’m disgusted.”
Mr Barker required 10 stitches on the top of his head.
“(I’m) more worried about the blow to the side of his head as it’s still very swollen,” Ms Callaghan said.
“I hope it doesn’t happen to anyone else. They might not be as lucky.”
Police are reportedly speaking to several witnesses and viewing CCTV footage from the area.
NSW Police didn’t respond to questions from news.com.au in relation to the matter.
Another victim, Mitchell, 19, who didn’t want to give his last name, told news.com.au he was walking to a taxi rank alone after a night at his local pub in Terrigal on the NSW Central Coast when a car load of thugs drove past and hurled abuse at him.
“I didn’t even look back at them, I just stuck my finger up in the air and kept walking,” he told news.com.au.
“Next thing they’ve turned the car around, pulled up next to me and about five of them have jumped out of the car and just started laying into me.
“They were all a lot older than me. There was nothing I could do. I was just on the ground while they were kicking me in the head and laying their boots into my ribs.
“They were loving it.”
Mitchell said those responsible were never identified or charged.
Other recent cases of unprovoked drive-by attacks have been reported in Victoria.
‘HE WAS HOLDING A WEAPON’
Joanna Christodoulou was driving through Bentleigh East in Melbourne’s southeast with her brother when the night took a terrifying and ugly turn around 2.30am on September 25.
Ms Christodoulou noticed that a black car with tinted windows was following her. When she stopped at a red light on the intersection of North and Warrigal roads, she turned around to see who was in the car.
“As I turned my head the car was very close to mine and the suspected male with black hair holding a weapon (hammer/crowbar) decided to smash the drivers (sic) window which caused the window to explode,” she wrote of the ordeal on Facebook.
“I suffered a cut to the head and 4 abrasions in my right eye due to the glass. I have blurry vision and traumatic stress.
“The reason for posting this is the make sure everyone is aware of the dangers these people are capable of inflicting. It disgusts me to know how low people have become.”
‘WELCOME TO DANDENONG’
In August, a 19-year-old man was walking past a vacant block on Scott St in Dandenong, Victoria about 7.30pm when five men of Middle Eastern appearance jumped out of a parked car and brutally attacked him.
One of the attackers said “this is Dandenong, welcome to Dandenong” and punched him in the face.
As the victim fell to the group, the group swarmed, kicking and stomping him until one of the men said to stop.
His jaw was smashed in two places and several of his teeth were knocked out during the brutal attack. The teen was left so badly beaten he required surgery on his jaw.
Detectives released an image of a silver Honda accord, possibly a 2000 or older model, which the men were believed to have jumped out of.
The men are described as aged between 17-25 years old, slim to medium build, with dark features and thick accents.
‘THEY THREATENED TO KILL ME’
Melbourne chef Theo, 27, was waiting at a bus stop on Nicholson Street near the intersection of Brunswick Road, on the way to meet friends when he was set upon by two thugs in May this year.
He saw two men in a car at red traffic lights and noticed the passenger was staring at him.
Theo, who didn’t want to use his last name, reportedly asked the passenger what he was looking at before the man got out of the car and started threatening him.
“The passenger was continually staring at me, which is when I said ‘What are you looking at?’” Theo said.
“He then jumped out of the car and started abusing me, yelling at me, threatening me.”
After his friend parked the car the duo chased Theo who ran into a nearby convenience store.
The abuse continued with his attackers threatening to kill him.
“I was punched several times and kicked while on the ground, helpless,” Theo said.
CCTV footage showed Theo fall to the ground and one of the two men then kicked him in the head, knocking him unconscious and fracturing his skull.
They then left the scene and a worker at the store called police.
Police said the Brunswick East attack was “unprovoked but premeditated”.
“It could have been far worse — luckily for Theo it wasn’t,” police said.
The ABC reported that Theo had to take extended time off work to recover.
“I can’t stop thinking about it. Knowing that they’re still out there, whether they could find me again or do it to someone else,” he said.
“There are so many occurrences where there isn’t someone sitting here to tell the story. It’s everything that they get caught.”
Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Originally published as Cruisin’ for a bruisin’: thugs toying with strangers’ lives in random drive-by attacks
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