Tennis star Nick Kyrgios and mother Norlaila Kyrgios recall terror of gunpoint Tesla robbery

Tennis star Nick Kyrgios and his mother have told a court of their anger and fear after a killer pointed a gun at his mother’s head, stole his luxury car, and left her terrified to answer her door.

Nick Kyrgios with his Tesla, which was stolen in the incident last year. Picture: Instagram

An “incredibly angry” Nick Kyrgios has recalled the terror of waking up to the sound of his mother’s screams after she opened the door of their family home to find a gun being pointed at her head.

The tennis star’s mother, Norlaila Kyrgios, also recounted the horror in a victim impact statement, telling the ACT Supreme Court the masked gunman “shattered my soul, my peace and my perception of the world around me”.

Their statements were read to the court on Monday as the gunman, 33, faced a sentence hearing after pleading guilty to charges of aggravated robbery and failing to stop for police.

The robber, who is not named for legal reasons, has a significant criminal history, which includes a conviction for culpable driving causing death.

Just 14 at the time of that incident in 2005, he hit and killed university student Clea Rose in central Canberra while fleeing police in a stolen car.

Clea Rose, who died in 2005 after the offender, then aged 14, hit her while fleeing police in a stolen car. Picture: Supplied

Nearly two decades later, in May 2023, he again tried to outrun police in a stolen vehicle.

This time it was a $125,000 Tesla Model X, which belonged to 2022 Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios.

Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios with his bright green Tesla. Picture: Instagram

The court heard the robber stole the vehicle from outside the Kyrgios family home in Canberra’s north, knocking on the door while the tennis star was asleep inside.

He called out a false name to encourage Mrs Kyrgios to open the door before threatening her with a shotgun so she would hand over the keys to her son’s bright green car.

Once Kyrgios had woken, he used the Tesla app on his phone to limit the vehicle’s speed and relay its movements to police as officers pursued the car across several suburbs.

Police eventually managed to stop the offender and arrest him in the suburb of Ainslie.

Norlaila Kyrgios, pictured in 2014 with son Nick’s first tennis racquet. Picture: Gary Ramage

In his victim impact statement, read to the court by lawyer Pierre Johannessen, Kyrgios said he still struggled to sleep and worried constantly about the safety of his family.

“We assume the worst every time we hear a sound,” Kyrgios said.

He wrote particularly about the impact on his mother, who was now “terrified to answer the door”.

“Nothing prepares you for being woken up to your mother’s screams,” he said.

Nick Kyrgios, who has recalled the terror of hearing his mother’s screams. Picture: Jason Edwards

In a media release issued by Mr Johannessen, Kyrgios added that he hoped the sentence hearing would bring his mother “a small measure of peace”.

“[I hope] the court recognises the anxiety and trauma my family has been through, feeling we can’t be safe in our family home, the place I grew up and where all those great memories now have to exist next to the memory of a gun pointed at my mother’s face,” he said.

In her victim impact statement, read aloud by daughter Halimah Kyrgios, Mrs Kyrgios described fearing death when she was “confronted by a masked figure with cold eyes”.

“I was shocked to the core,” Mrs Kyrgios wrote.

Norlaila Kyrgios, pictured in 2014 with a photo of Nick Kyrgios as a baby. Picture: Gary Ramage

The tennis star’s mother fled the country following the incident, “desperately seeking refuge” in her birth country of Malaysia.

Since her return to Canberra, she has sought professional help for her mental health and taken physical measures that include upgrading her home security system.

However, she said those measures “serve as constant reminders of the horror I faced”.

She also experiences “waves of panic” whenever there is a knock at the door.

“The gut-wrenching image of my family’s potential fate haunts me,” Mrs Kyrgios wrote.

The robber apologised to the court and the Kyrgios family in a letter, which he read aloud.

He described being arrested for the first time at the age of 11, and making many “poor choices” in subsequent years.

But he said he had “never steered away from the opportunity for change”, and he hoped he would be given the opportunity to make up for his mistakes.

Defence lawyer Jan De Bruin asked the court to give the 33-year-old that opportunity by sentencing him to a drug and alcohol treatment order.

Dr De Bruin said it was “in the interests of the community” for the offender to rehabilitate.

Prosecutor Marcus Dyason said he and Dr De Bruin were “in furious agreement” that the offending warranted a term of imprisonment.

He said the key issue was whether the sentence would exceed four years, which would preclude the making of a treatment order.

Acting Justice Rebecca Christensen plans to hand down a sentence in July, by which time the offender will have been remanded in custody for 14 months.