Townsville carjacking: Woman ambushed near Flinders Street in CBD

A young woman is too traumatised to return home after she was ambushed in a failed roadside carjacking by 10 children in the Townsville CBD.

Townsville cabinet designer Zali Sturgess, 21, said she was too traumatised to return home after she was ambushed in a failed roadside carjacking by ten youths in the Townsville CBD on Sunday evening. Picture: Supplied

A young woman is too traumatised to return home after she was ambushed in a attempted roadside carjacking by 10 children in the Townsville CBD on Sunday evening.

The ordeal on Denham Lane is being investigated by Townsville Police but has struck a nerve with residents.

“I don’t even have the words to describe it, it was the worst thing I’ve ever really experienced,” Zali Sturgess, 21, said on Monday.

“I was scared for my life, it shouldn’t happen.”

Townsville cabinet designer Zali Sturgess, 21, said she was too traumatised to return home after she was ambushed in a failed roadside carjacking by ten youths in the Townsville CBD on Sunday evening. Picture: Supplied

The cabinet designer said she was driving to have dinner with her mother and father when she entered Denham Lane from the direction of Flinders Street at 6.30pm.

Ms Sturgess said the road was blocked by a male she estimated was aged in his early teens with nine other youths, including children, lining the street.

“He put his hand up in kind of a stop motion, he had the tips of his fingers curled over a knife and so I obviously stopped, I wasn’t going to hit him,” she said.

“He walked around to my window and was looking into my car … he smiled and laughed at me and a couple of the boys had moved around and were trying to open the driver’s side (locked) rear door.”

Townsville cabinet designer Zali Sturgess, 21, said she was too traumatised to return home after she was ambushed in a failed roadside carjacking by ten youths in the Townsville CBD on Sunday evening. Picture: Supplied

Ms Sturgess said she believed that because the car was a manual and not automatic that she was able to drive off.

“I drove away as quickly as I could and stopped in the Officeworks car park and called dad, called police, called everyone,” she said.

“I was terrified, I didn’t know what to do.”

Townsville Police have been contacted for comment.

“I’m trying to get a lot of politicians involved in it to see if we can change how the custody (laws) and justice system works so that these kids are not taken in for three weeks and then released again because that is clearly not doing anything.”

A social media post on Facebook outlining her ordeal has been shared almost 150 time.

“The reaction has been just unreal, everyone seems really angry about it, which is good.”

Originally published as Townsville carjacking: Woman ambushed near Flinders Street in CBD