‘Roo killer’ Connor Berkrey told police he wanted to ‘terrorise and frighten’ wallabies for fun

A Gold Coast teen who deliberately ran down wallabies in his Nissan Patrol has revealed in court why he did it. Find out what he had to say.

A GOLD Coast teenager who deliberately mowed down several wallabies told police he wanted to “terrorise and frighten” the animals for fun.

Southport Magistrates Court was told Connor Berkrey was driving one of the vehicles that targeted and killed numerous wallabies in Worongary in September last year.

Police prosecutor Ian Adams said officers identified the 18-year-old’s car using CCTV footage from the surrounding area, and found fur stuck in its front bumper when they searched his home days later.

Sen Const Adams said Berkrey told police he had dinner with a Tinder date before going to The Panorama, where they met a group of three people.

Connor Berkrey leaving the Southport courthouse. Picture: Jessica Paul

The court was told Berkrey dropped his date home before joining the other group at Worongary near 10pm that night. He claimed striking the first wallaby was an accident.

“(Berkrey) stated he pulled over about 20m from the injured animal and then reversed over it to ensure it wasn't suffering,” Sen Const Adams said.

“He and the other vehicle then drove around deliberately targeting wallabies.

“He stated he did this to terrorise and frighten them, because he was in a big car and it was fun.”

Sen Const Adams said Berkrey recalled hitting a second wallaby, but did not stop to help it.

The court was told the Reedy Creek man’s Nissan Patrol was also linked to three fuel drive-offs at various Gold Coast service stations, totalling $777.40 in stolen diesel fuel.

Defence lawyer Troy Smith said family members – many of whom supported Berkrey in court – described the teenager as ordinarily kind and “generous to fault”.

Mr Smith said a psychological report identified “non-consequential thinking” as the key driver of Berkrey’s offending.

“A lot of the media attention was focused on my client being the primary perpetrator, (and) grossly exaggerated his participation,” he said.

“My client experienced a significant amount of online harassment including threats to physically harm him (or) his family, as far-reaching as the Berkrey family in Western Australia.”

Mr Smith told the court Berkrey had no criminal history and remained focused on putting himself “back on the right path”.

Magistrate Michelle Dooley said Berkrey’s actions were those of a “very immature young man”, and was “completely baffled” by his thoughtlessness.

She sentenced Berkrey to 80 hours’ community service to enable him to make amends with the community.

Berkrey pleaded guilty to one count each of animal cruelty and driving without due care and attention, and three counts of fraud.

He was also ordered to pay full restitution and no conviction was recorded.