South West Rocks Surf Lifesaving Club subject to several break-ins amid youth crime wave
The president of a surf club in a Mid-North Coast town gripped by a youth crime wave has “had a gutful” after the tenth break-in at the venue in as many months.
Mid-North Coast
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The president of a surf club in a Mid-North Coast town gripped by a youth crime wave has “had a gutful” after the tenth break-in at the venue in as many months.
Rod McDonagh has lived in South West Rocks for 30 years and has been the president of the local NSW Surf Life Saving club for the past 25 – and has never experienced anything like it.
“We’ve had spates (of crime) but nothing as brazen and ongoing as this. It’s out of control,” he said.
On Saturday morning, members arrived at the clubhouse to find the telltale smashed windows from yet another break-in in the town where people are increasingly living in fear.
Located in the Kempsey Shire, between Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour, it’s home to many ex-Sydney retirees but has been plagued by ongoing criminal activity from teens and a lack of regular police patrols.
Residents have opened up about thefts at caravan parks and holiday houses, restaurants being broken into and cars stolen for joy rides before being torched and dumped outside of town.
In a recent Daily Telegraph exclusive, the publication exposed that many of the criminal acts were being ‘posted and boasted’ about online on Instagram pages like ‘kempseyyoungins’ and ‘kempseyolders’.
The pages showcase dangerous and daring behaviour, including videos of drivers with their faces covered speeding at up to 220km/h, with both pages running the tagline “you sleep we creep”.
The two accounts, which also sledge “don’t snitch ya bitch” in the bios, have more than 100 posts each with a combined total of nearly 10,000 followers.
The brazen nature of the repeated surf club break-ins have left Mr McDonagh gobsmacked.
Based on the security vision from the club, he believes past offenders are now familiar with the location of the cameras - not to avoid them but to stare them down in a “complete act of defiance”.
He said the alleged thieves, who predominantly target alcohol, often wait for the club to close in the nearby weather shelter, making many of the young female workers feel terrified and intimidated.
The South West Rocks police station is not permanently manned and officers often have to travel from Kempsey about 35km away.
According to Mr McDonagh, when the police do attend they are “conscientious and proactive”, but he fears once thieves are caught they will just be turned loose to reoffend.
State MP for Oxley Micheal Kemp, which includes South West Rocks, has met with community members on a number of occasions and is planning another visit to the surf club on Thursday. But Mr McDonagh said he is at a loss as to what it will achieve.
Mr Kemp said crime was the biggest issue to come through his office in the past 12 months and he is calling for 24-hour operational policing in the town.
South West Rocks is home to roughly 5,000 people but balloons in size over the Christmas break.
Mr McDonagh is afraid tourists will simply stop coming.
“We’ve had a gutful, it’s just rocked the whole place,” he said.
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