List: Some of the strangest crimes to have occurred on the Gold Coast
Wacky, wild and downright dumb – the Gold Coast is no stranger to bizarre crimes. These stories have raised more than a few eyebrows.
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WACKY, wild and downright dumb – the Gold Coast is no stranger to bizarre crimes.
Here are some of the stories which have raised eyebrows in 2021 and in years past.
‘BUXOM BANDIT’
A woman dubbed the “buxom bandit” made headlines across the globe and even sparked a loopy Taiwanese animation after she exposed her breasts while robbing an Arundel service station with a knife on July 2, 2012.
Provocative armed robber Tonee Walker, dressed in a low cut top, waved a flick knife at attendant Gary Corcoran and giggled as she bolted with $300 from the till.
Her getaway driver told police Walker deliberately lowered her shirt to expose her breasts after telling friends she was going to give the worker “something to look at”.
CCTV of the crime went viral online and resulted in the creation of an animation poking fun at the incident. It showed Walker bouncing into the Arundel shop atop a kangaroo.
Walker eventually pleaded guilty to armed robbery and stealing a number plate when she faced Southport District Court.
Barrister Marcin Lazinski told the court his client had been under the influence of amphetamines and Xanax.
Walker was sentenced to four years jail with parole eligibility after serving 16 months.
SURFER STALKER
Stalker Sarah Anne Foote became obsessed with world champion surfer (and occasional shark puncher) Mick Fanning.
The Coast mum’s crazy fixation resulted in her sending rambling messages to the surfer and on one occasion Mr Fanning spotted Foote at the top of a staircase in his home.
Mr Fanning asked her to leave and Foote did leave the residence without further incident.
Three of the notes Foote sent Mr Fanning were sent by post, while a fourth was hand delivered, Southport District Court was told in March, when Foote faced sentencing.
Foote’s messages included hand-drawn pictures of love hearts and a drawing of herself.
In one of the notes, she spoke of smelling a rotting corpse and meeting a “kiddie killer”.
Another message simply read: “You really are a strange man.”
Crown prosecutor Matt Hynes said Foote “made admissions (to police) to the offending despite having a distorted view of her relationship with the complainant.”
“She acknowledges going to his house was going a bit far.”
Foote was clearly suffering from schizophrenia at the time, Mr Hynes said.
Defence barrister Jason Buckland said Foote was getting her illness under control.
Foote was sentenced to 15 months in prison with immediate release on parole, after she spent two days behind bars.
SEN-SATIONAL TACKLE
Gold Coast man Akin Sen was coathanger tackled by a good Samaritan when he tried to evade arrest after ramming a cop car during a “very serious crime wave” which left “nobody safe”.
A POLAIR helicopter captured footage of the member of the public taking Sen down on March 5 last year and the video quickly gathered momentum on social media.
Sen rammed a cop car, cut across a paddock to emerge on the wrong side of a busy road and fled on foot with police hot on his tail, Southport Magistrates Court was told.
He was then wrested to the pavement at Mermaid Waters by a man in thongs who was walking his dog.
Sen pleaded guilty in the court to 81 charges in May last year.
“(The dangerous driving) was an incredibly dangerous exercise that you were undertaking … that driving is very dangerous and a lot of people could have been hurt, which fortunately they weren’t,” Magistrate Pamela Dowse said.
Schoolchildren were using pedestrian crossings in the area at the time of Sen’s frenzied driving.
He was sentenced to 18 months prison with immediate parole eligibility.
Sen was still serving an unrelated sentence, due to conclude in December last year.
WIPERS WIELDED
A Gold Coast disability pensioner decided to tape together two windscreen wipers to use as an unlikely weapon in an odd attempt at robbing a Smith St service station.
Joshua John Poole stuck his head inside a T-shirt with eye holes sliced in the fabric before he charged into the servo wielding the wipers like a stick on June 29, 2017.
The robbery quickly ran into a snag when a customer placed Poole in a constrictive bear hug.
Nevertheless, Poole still shouted at the servo’s console operator to hand over the dosh.
“Give me the f---ing money, give me the money now,” he reportedly screamed.
The customer held Poole until police arrived, Southport District Court was told during a later appearance, in which the offender pleaded guilty to attempted armed robbery.
Defence barrister Nick McGhee told the court: “It was a most bizarre attempted robbery as he was effectively restrained from the time he entered the store.”
He said Poole was remorseful and suffered from various mental health issues.
Poole avoided jail after the bungled robbery and was sentenced to three years probation.
YAKUZA SLAYING
Hamago Kitayama was a crime lord reigning over one of the most violent Yakuza clans in Japan for more than 30 years – but he was eventually killed by his wife, dismembered and put out with the garbage.
Retired millionaire Kitayama was murdered on the Coast in April 1999, in what will likely be forever remembered as one of the city’s most lurid crimes.
Akiko Kitayama strangled her husband, diced him up with an electric saw, shoved his dismembered corpse in plastic bags and then placed the body in the garbage underneath their Surfers Paradise unit.
The body of the Yakuza boss has never been found, despite police rummaging through the Suntown tip at Labrador in a frenzied search for remains.
Akiko Kitayama was found guilty of murder in January 2001 and sentenced to life behind bars. Two appeal attempts were unsuccessful.
Before he moved to the Gold Coast with his wife on retiree visas, Hamago Kitayama sold protection to shopkeepers, had interests in a showground and was involved in protection rackets.
WHAT A CLOWN
Young car wash worker Zye Allen donned a clown wig, dark sunglasses and red undies in an amateur attempt at robbing a Kirra 7-Eleven store while armed with a flick knife.
The worker behind the counter was not particularly shaken – Allen was so drunk and unsteady on his feet he did not present much of a threat.
Allen forgot to unfold the flick knife while demanding cigarettes and at one point in the odd series of events his wig almost fell off.
Allen – who was sentenced to 18 months probation in Southport District Court on April 20 last year – had a police officer draw a gun on him as he attempted to flee the store on a pushbike on Anzac Day, April 25, 2019.
He had the 25 centimetre knife stuffed in his underwear at the time, pulled out the weapon and waved the blade at a senior constable, the court was told.
The armed officer had to repeatedly scream commands at Allen before the robber finally hit the deck and was arrested.
In the court, Allen pleaded guilty to common assault, going armed to cause fear and two counts of entering a premises with intent.
Allen had planned to attend rehab for drug and alcohol issues, but that was waylaid by the coronavirus pandemic.
He remarked when he left court that he was “on goon” at the time of the robbery.
FAKE ABDUCTION
Gold Coast singer and Penthouse model Fairlie Arrow faked her own abduction in an attempt to reignite her flagging career, as would eventually come to light.
Arrow’s tale was harrowing – she was kidnapped by an obsessed fan and left for dead on a rural road days later in December 1991.
But it was false, and she instead hid out at the Town and Country Motel at Nerang, which has since been bulldozed.
Police initially believed Arrow had been harassed by a man for months before she vanished from her Isle of Capri home.
Det Sgt Mike Sparke told the media a friend sought help after she ventured to Arrow’s home and discovered the door of her car ajar and the front door open with the keys in the lock.
Police believed the man had previously entered Arrow’s former Mudgeeraba home and scrawled “don’t leave me” in lipstick on a mirror.
“This man has been building up his infatuation over a lengthy period of time and he’s so infatuated that he has to be with this girl,’’ Sgt Sparke said.
“I’d say he’s demented. He needs help and we’re hoping he’s not going to harm her. He’s never shown signs that he wanted to hurt her before.’’
Two days later, Arrow was found by the side of the road at Mudgeeraba and suspicions arose.
Outside Broadbeach Police Station, Arrow conceded there was increasing scepticism regarding her ordeal, but was adamant her story was legit.
She said she had been blindfolded, gagged and bound to a four-poster bed.
“Trust me. This is not a bad publicity stunt,” she said.
“I can think of a lot of easier ways to run a publicity stunt than this.”
However, weeks later Arrow admitted the hoax and fled to Sydney. Soon after, her marriage ended and she was charged with making a false complaint and false statement.
Arrow was also hit with an $18,000 bill to pay for the extensive – and ultimately pointless -search to find her, before she relocated to the US in the mid-1990s.
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