Audi, LandCruiser, Ranger, HiLux, truck: Carjacker Jake Watts’ spree

From an Audi driver held hostage to a LandCruiser stolen at knifepoint, the staggering number of victims this one Qld maniac managed to terrorise and the wild police chase that followed can be revealed.

Jake Kevin Watts, 31, was jailed in the District Court at Rockhampton for his crime spree which included a series of carjackings across Central Queensland.

“You’re my hostage, I’ve got a knife”.

These words to a woman driving an Audi were among the chilling threats from an armed menace as he went on an 11-car rampage across Central Qld, leaving a trail of trauma and crash carnage in his rearview.

Jake Kevin Watts, 31, was sentenced in the Rockhampton District Court which heard he had a “serious” drug problem and carried out a number of carjackings, most while he was already on parole.

His chaotic crime spree started when he drove a truck through six red lights, almost colliding with other vehicles, and conducted other illegal manoeuvres which forced fellow motorists to stop driving.

He was eventually intercepted by police and charged.

Then at Yeppoon Watts was trespassing at a home and when a man inside heard his dogs barking, he came out to find Watts holding two large knives and claiming he was “being chased by two blokes.”

Watts then went to a different home in the same street, still holding the knives.

One of the residents there fled inside the house while another approached Watts who again said he was being chased by two men.

Watts asked the male resident to take him for a drive and the man told him to “put the knives down and we can talk about it.”

Watts put one knife down and as the man approached, Watts raised the knife he was holding and said: “Get away, open the car.”

Jake Kevin Watts ended up taking 11 vehicles in a short period of time.

The man said he could not open the LandCruiser from the passenger side and Watts then threw a brick through the driver’s side window, got into the vehicle and drove off.

Watts drove dangerously, repeatedly overtaking cars and crossing double white lines.

At one point police tried to intercept him and he conducted a U-turn in open traffic and evaded them.

Watts tailgated another motorist, deliberately rammed them, and drove off.

He then conducted fuel drive-offs (stealing) at two service stations.

While driving the car towards Gracemere, Watts did another erratic U-turn into traffic, nearly causing a crash.

He also drove through a containment line on a work site at speed, forcing workers to get off the road.

Watts abandoned the LandCruiser and stole a Ford Ranger which belonged to the Department of Transport and Main Roads.

Heading towards Emerald, he drove erratically and frequently crossed onto the wrong side of the road.

A speed camera clocked him at 116kmh in a 50kmh zone and he did doughnuts on the highway.

Watts was refused service at a fuel station where he was confronted by police from the Central Highlands town of Anakie but he drove off.

He drove the Ranger to a property near Emerald where he approached the female owner and said: “I’m not going to hurt you but I need your car.”

Fearing for her safety, the woman threw her keys to Watts and he told her not to call the police for 30 minutes and he drove off in her car.

Watts drove to a different property where he stole another car and drove it away.

He drove dangerously on the Capricorn Highway and when police tried to intercept him, he did U-turns to escape them.

There were a number of near crashes with the police car and also other vehicles before police ended their pursuit.

Watts then entered a man’s property at Emerald where he stole an Isuzu.

He drove the vehicle straight through a gate, damaging it.

Watts then did a vehicle swap, getting into the man’s Ford Ranger and driving it out of a shed, hitting an overhead fuel tank which damaged the car.

The man entered the car in a bid to stop Watts and a struggle ensued.

Watts reversed the Ranger into the Isuzu and the man was able to restrain him.

But when the man tried to call police, Watts got into the Isuzu and fled.

Watts went to another property where he drove the Isuzu through its front gate.

He then left and did the same thing at a different property where he ditched the Isuzu for a RAV4.

Watts drove the RAV4 for a bit but then returned back to the Isuzu, eventually abandoning it as it was badly damaged.

Watts did not stop there.

While a man was in a Ford Territory, Watts got into the vehicle, punched him repeatedly and took his keys.

Watts drove the Ford towards Emerald and police stopped traffic and set up a stinger site which he drove through, and the tyres burst, forcing him to crash into a culvert.

He fled on foot.

Police caught up with Watts, pulled out a taser and told him not to move but he ran off and got into another vehicle.

While driving that one, Watts collided with another motorist on a highway and he tried to get into their vehicle but it was locked.

He punched its window and then when police were in the vicinity, he fled.

Watts approached another vehicle with a woman driving and tried to get in, but it was locked.

He banged his fists on the windscreen and ran to another car.

He tried to get into it but it was also locked.

After banging his fists on its windscreen, he ran to a different car where he got into the passenger seat and told the male driver to “drive c**t, drive.”

The driver told Watts to “get out.”

A scuffle followed, Watts tried to push on the accelerator, and he punched the driver three or four times in the head.

Watts then threatened to stab the man if he did not drive.

Watts later ran to a car being driven by a woman.

He tried to open the doors, banged on the windows, and she drove off.

Watts’ next victims were a 51-year-old woman and her 29-year-old male passenger who had a “serious disability”.

Watts got into the front passenger seat of their Audi and yelled at the woman to “drive, get out of here!”.

Watts then said to her: “You’re my hostage, I’ve got a knife.”

While the woman was driving, Watts leant across and put his foot on the accelerator until the car reached speeds of 160kmh.

Watts eventually let the woman and the man out of the car on the highway, but in “slightly separate” places, the court heard.

Watts stopped the Audi at Blackwater and then got into a Toyota HiLux being driven by a man.

Watts told the man to drive towards Rockhampton.

The man complied for a bit before pulling the car over and running away.

Watts then got behind the wheel and drove the car dangerously, hitting speeds up to 160kmh.

He hit a culvert before accelerating towards a marked police car and doing several “sharp turns” to evade them.

He drove through a police stinger site and despite the car tyres deflating, Watts continued driving, veering onto the wrong side of the road.

Watts eventually stopped before reversing into a police car.

He was then arrested and remanded in custody, before getting bail.

Then at Yeppoon, Watts waved down a man driving a truck who stopped to assist him.

Watts asked to be taken “to town as I’ve got people after me.”

The man gave Watts a lift and Watts directed him to go “places” without saying specifically where he was headed.

Eventually Watts grabbed a metal pole from behind the seat and told the driver to pull over and get out, which he did.

Watts then drove the truck dangerously, going through red lights and travelling “erratically at speed” on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic.

He hit bollards and crashed into the back of another vehicle.

Later, police saw the truck being driven by Watts in the carpark at Capricornia Correctional Centre before making its way out onto the Bruce Highway.

Watts pulled over, armed himself with the metal pole, and a struggle with officers followed.

Police deployed capsicum spray and a taser, and Watts was put in a police vehicle.

While in it, he kicked and smashed a Perspex window.

Watts pleaded guilty to armed robbery, robbery with violence, two counts each of stealing and entering premises with intent, eight counts of unlawful use of motor vehicles, five counts of dangerous operation of a vehicle, two counts of entering vehicles with violence, three counts of attempting to enter vehicles with violence, three counts of deprivation of liberty, and possessing dangerous drugs.

Some of Watts’ victims provided victim impact statements.

Chief Judge Brian Devereaux noted that counsel said Watts, in sobriety and health of mind since being in pre-sentence custody, had acknowledged and appreciated the serious effect he’d had on his victims and he’d expressed remorse.

Watts had a six-page criminal history which Chief Judge Devereaux said was indicative “of a person with a serious drug problem.”

Watts had previously been sentenced in the Supreme Court in 2017 for drug offences and weapons possession.

The court heard that despite Watts’ troubles over the years, his family had given him support, particularly his parents.

Some family members were in court for his sentencing.

During sentencing, Chief Judge Devereaux told Watts: “You hardly need me to tell you that unless you change, you will spend your life in custody.”

Chief Judge Devereaux sentenced Watts to nine years’ jail and did not fix a parole eligibility date.

The court heard Watts would be eligible for parole at the halfway mark of his sentence.

Originally published as Audi, LandCruiser, Ranger, HiLux, truck: Carjacker Jake Watts’ spree