Coolangatta crime: Skate shop owner Les Graue calls for change after alleged attacks by teens
A Coolangatta shop owner has opened up about his reality living with a baseball bat after multiple alleged attacks by a group of teens including being “stomped and kicked in the head”. Watch the CCTV
Gold Coast
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Longtime Coolangatta shop owner Les Graue is constantly looking over his shoulder - wondering when his next clash with tooled up teen crims will be.
“Grubs” he calls them.
He can’t leave his Griffith Street premises, Coolangatta Concrete Lines Skate Shop, to go and grab a quick caffeine fix without worrying when they might strike again.
On multiple occasions in the last three months, he has grappled with the “grubs” - in the first instance he was allegedly stomped and kicked in the head, left with a broken elbow and a concussion.
A day later they allegedly returned to taunt him. A week ago, he intervened on behalf of a neighbouring venue facing a similar situation, with dramatic footage showing him later locking himself inside the shop for safety.
Now he has a baseball bat with him at all times.
“When is this going to end?” Mr Graue said.
“I’m looking over my shoulder every time I open that door and if I walk down the street and grab a coffee. Our community deserves to feel safe in their own workplaces.”
In many ways, Mr Graue’s battles are emblematic of the wider community’s youth crime fears. This is his story.
Mr Graue moved his skate shop to Griffith Street in 2015, opened My Scooter Lab in The Strand in 2018 and was a manager at Coolangatta Hotel in 2004, giving him a front row seat to see the dramatic changes to the suburb.
He said he had never witnessed violence like this over the past two decades and was “heartbroken” to see the “safe”, “relaxing” and “family-friendly” suburb turn into a playground for these wild teens.
“Five years ago, Coolangatta was busy,” he said, recalling the only real drama was “a couple of homeless people who on occasions would drink too much.
“(But) in 2021, this changed dramatically and a lot of new homeless people started arriving and so did the drugs on a large scale.
“I had never seen so many angry, violent people on a daily basis in my life.
“Local police have managed to get on top of this over the last six months but now there are kids being violent, stealing and threatening people.”
Mr Graue said he lives in a constant state of anxiety after being “tormented” and allegedly attacked by an group of teens multiple times, with the most recent attack only a week ago.
On June 6, police were called to Griffith Street in Coolangatta around 3.20pm after reports a teenage boy had entered a bottle shop and taken goods without paying.
Reports at the time showed the teenage boy had assaulted another teenager before members of the public - including Mr Graue - intervened and the suspect “retaliated”.
Mr Graue proceeded to lock himself inside his store for safety.
The teenage boy then ran off before returning to the skate shop with a “utensil” and trying to “engage” with Mr Graue, who was inside the store.
A police spokesman said the teenage boy damaged the shop window in the process.
CCTV footage shows Mr Graue leaving the shop to intervene again when another altercation occured.
The police spokesman said the suspect left the scene and a short time later attempted to steal a car from a woman driving along Griffith Street.
Officers intervened and the teenage boy fled the scene.
Investigations are ongoing.
Three months earlier on March 11, CCTV footage caught the moment Mr Graue was beaten by an alleged gang of juveniles outside his shop, leaving him with a broken elbow, four stitches and a week-long concussion.
A 19-year-old man from Tweed Heads South was charged with assaults occasioning bodily harm.
“The (alleged) attack was completely out of the blue,” he said.
“I had to click into survival mode. All I knew was I had to get to my feet. It all happened so quickly.”
Mr Graue alleged another group of teens visited his store the day after the March 11 drama and “taunted” him.
“They are grubs,” he said.
“They think it’s funny to throw rocks at cars, harass kids and pull knives on kids on buses.”
Mr Graue said he had witnessed a rise in youth crime over the past two years and nine months ago he bought a bat to defend himself.
On other occasions, he says he has closed up early - sometimes hours before he normally would - when sensing the likelihood of untoward behaviour or the potential for another confrontation.
“I’m currently trading at 50 per cent of my figures from two years ago. Obviously the economy has had a part to play in this - but The Strand now has two security guards on most shifts and local businesses have also felt the need to employ their own security.
“Not a good look,” he said.
Shadow Minister for Youth Justice and Victim Support Laura Gerber blamed the Steven Miles Labor Government, claiming “weak laws” were the reason for the rise in crime.
“Our police do not have the powers they need to keep our community safe, and businesses like these are paying the consequences,” she said.
Ms Gerber called for the introduction of the Making Queensland Safer Laws, removing youth detention as a last resort.
“The community has lost faith in these (current) laws.”.
Queensland Minister for Police and Community Safety Mark Ryan said there was a legislation before parliament to replace the principle of last resort with a new clause that “a youth should be detained in custody when necessary to ensure community safety”.
In April, the Miles Government committed an additional $1.27 billion to its Queensland Community Safety Plan which would address the “root causes of crime and hold offenders to account”.
“Every Queenslander deserves to feel safe and be safe,” Mr Ryan said.
“It is disturbing to hear how this shop owner has been targeted.”
Mr Ryan said they had strengthened laws and continue to work alongside police with expanding Jack’s Law – a wanding operation to scan people for knives without a warrant – and deploying targeted police boosts via Operation Whiskey Unison, Whiskey Legion and Taskforce Guardian.
A Gold Coast police spokesman said they “prioritise the placement of resourcing and patrols to prevent and disrupt offending behaviours.”.
“This has been and is continuing to occur in Coolangatta and Burleigh areas with the policing focus to enhance the community feelings of safety.
“These deployments include resources from Gold Coast Rapid Action and Patrols, general duties officers, Gold Coast Highway Patrol, and plain clothes investigators ad patrols.”
Division 14 councillor Gail O’Neill welcomed extra police patrols in Coolangatta.
“There have been a few worrying incidents of late, especially involving juveniles,” she said.
“I have great respect for the police and the job that they do but I do support the state member’s call for more police on the Southern Gold Coast.”
Ms O’Neill commended the Gold Coast Council for introducing more CCTV surveillance in commercial areas at Coolangatta.
According to Queensland Crime Statistics there was a jump in reported assault cases in Coolangatta over the past two years.
In 2022 there was 193 reported assaults – the highest rate over the past 20 years – compared to 123 assaults in 2021.
Six months into 2024 there had already been 79 assaults reported.
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