Cairns crime victims speak on impact of the youth crime crisis

After having her home ransacked and plastered with eggs, in a disturbing reality of the youth crime epidemic, this victim now sleeps with a can of toxic Bushman’s repellent by her bed. See the CCTV pictures.

Tamara Srhoj's Whitfield home was ransacked and trashed you youth criminals who made off with booze and gifts. Picture: Supplied

After having her home ransacked and plastered with eggs, in a disturbing reality of the youth crime epidemic, this victim of Cairns crime now sleeps with a can of toxic Bushman’s repellent by her bed.

Two months on from the Christmas Day rampage by four teens through her Whitfield home Tamara Srhoj can’t shake a concern that the horrific incident could happen all over again.

Spending the special day in Mareeba with her family the former real estate worker was struck with a pang of dread when seeing discarded Christmas gifts dumped in the driveway when arriving home to Cairns.

Eggs broken on the floor of Tamara Srhoj's Whitfield home by youth offenders. Picture: Supplied

“I saw some Christmas presents in the driveway smashed and all the doors were pulled off and smashed,” she said.

“They stole Christmas presents and alcohol and basically trashed the house, it was absolutely horrific.

“They emptied out every drawer and smashed eggs through the house and police said in other houses they had thrown oil all over the walls.

“There no other word for it, they are grubs.”

In the past three months to February 15 there were 699 unlawful entry offences logged within the Cairns local government area which was a slight increase on the 689 offences in the previous three month period.

Discarded Christmas gifts littered the driveway of Tamara Srhoj's home. Picture: Supplied

According to Queensland Police Service data, 3359 unlawful entry offences logged in the past 12 months was a significant downturn on the 4,751 offences recorded in the 12 months to February 2023.

Most disappointing to Ms Srhoj was dealing with the aftermath, which for hundreds of victims of crime had become a new normal, where little could be done for crime victims.

“I know nothing is going to come from it, then I felt unsafe in that house because I live on my own,” she said.

“The sad thing is, it’s life now and you have to move on.”

The former Whitfield resident who has since relocated to Mackay said she went to stay with friends for three nights after the break-in because she was too afraid to go home.

“I sleep with a can of Aerogard or Bushmans if someone did come into the room during a break in,” she said.

Thieves gained access to the Whitfield house by forcing the front door with a shovel. Picture: Supplied

“My biggest fear is them doing something to me personally, because you can’t protect yourself any other way.

“They don’t realise the flow-on effect it has on people.

“I still have trouble sleeping at night.”

On the same day two suburbs over, Katie Johnson in Redlynch went through a similar experience when four masked and gloved teens snuck through her house right past a room where her four-year-old daughter and baby were sleeping.

The jimmied a garage window to gain access and took off at 4.40am with her Mitsubishi ASX which was later dumped undamaged but it took five weeks to get the vehicle back.

Police later told her the three youths aged between 12 and 15 had recently been released from the Cleveland Youth Detention Centre in Townsville.

“We now have a baseball bat in the bedroom and put an extra deadbolt on the door and we have done things that if it does happen again we will be prepared,” she said.

“The one thing that I was the most panicked about was our kids could have wanted out onto the street because they left the property wide open.”

Both crime victims blamed the kids but rather the often dysfunctional home life, domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse widely regarded as a contributor to juvenile offending rates.

“The issue with the crime is you can’t say lust lock up the kids because we know that won’t achieve anything, and making parents accountable won’t work,” Ms Srhoj said.

“There needs to be early intervention and they need to be shown a new way of life.”

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Originally published as Cairns crime victims speak on impact of the youth crime crisis