Ethan James Davies: Capalaba teen jailed for role in five attempted Gold Coast carjackings

A southeast Queensland teenager was in a stolen car with two co-offenders when, suspecting a police chopper was tracking them, they attempted to carjack five motorists on the Gold Coast, a court has heard.

A Redlands teenager has been jailed for attempting to carjack, alongside two co-offenders, five motorists on the Gold Coast in the space of half an hour.

Capalaba man Ethan James Davies, 19, appeared via audiovisual link in Southport District Court on Tuesday, where he pleaded guilty to five counts of attempted armed robbery while armed and in company.

The offending occurred on April 6 last year, with all five attempted carjackings occurring variously along Ferry Rd, the Gold Coast Highway and Marine Pde at Southport, Main Beach, and Surfers Paradise between 4.13–4.45pm.

The court heard Davies and his two co-offenders, both of whom remain before the courts, were consuming methamphetamine and alcohol on April 5 and into the morning of April 6.

The trio were driving around Brisbane in a stolen Toyota HiLux that had been nabbed from Cleveland on April 4 (it is not alleged Davies himself stole the car), when they formed a belief a police helicopter they thought they had seen was tracking them.

Footage taken from Davies’ arrest. Picture: QPS

They drove to the Gold Coast where, still believing they were being tracked, they formed a common purpose to steal a new vehicle, as theirs was running out of petrol.

The first two attempted carjackings occurred at Southport.

In the first, Davies and a co-accused, both of whom were clad in gloves and balaclavas and armed with metal bars, approached a motorist and attempted to haul them out of the vehicle.

They were unable to do so and decamped around the corner to the Southport Bowls Club, where a rideshare driver, on break and idling in the carpark, was punched in the face by Davies’ co-offender.

He got out of his car, but Davis and his co-offender were unable to figure out the parking brake, so they returned to the HiLux, where the other co-offender was waiting.

Southport Bowls Club, where the most violent of the five attempted carjackings on April 6, 2024. Picture: File

At Main Beach, Davies and a co-offender attempted to haul another female motorist out of her vehicle, but she managed to escape by reversing.

A fourth victim, at Surfers Paradise, was struck to the chest with a metal bar (by whom, Davies or a co-offender, it is not known) but managed to make good their escape, as did the fifth victim, who was targeted near Sundale Bridge.

The trio dumped the stolen HiLux at Mount Cotton.

Davies was identified and arrested on April 15 last year. He made some admissions during his police interview, but would not grass on his co-offenders.

He has been remanded in pre-sentence custody since then.

Footage taken from Davies’ arrest. Picture: QPS

Defence counsel David Carlin told the court his client had a difficult upbringing, which featured “almost no guidance from his parents at all”.

Mr Carlin said Davies’ parents were both meth addicts currently in prison.

Davies, who left school in year 8 and had a limited work history as a labourer, commenced drug and alcohol consumption at a young age, Mr Carlin added.

Judge Deborah Holliday KC sentenced Davies to two parallel orders: three years’ imprisonment with court-ordered parole release on June 22, and four years’ imprisonment, suspended after 14 months for an operational period of four years.

Taking into account time already served, Davies will be released on June 22, but he will have parole and a suspended sentence hanging over him for several years.

He has a number of outstanding, unrelated matters still before the Southport Magistrates Court.