Chase John Haskell jailed for nine years for Arundel Police Beat and Coolangatta shootings
A Gold Coast man whose week-long crime spree included an armed robbery at Helensvale, shooting a motorist at Coolangatta, a drive-by shooting of the Arundel Police Beat, and a daylong siege at Nerang, has been jailed.
A Gold Coast man whose week-long crime spree included an armed robbery at Helensvale, shooting a motorist at Coolangatta, a drive-by shooting of the Arundel Police Beat, and a daylong siege at Nerang, has been sentenced to nine years’ jail.
Helensvale man Chase John Haskell, 36, appeared via audiovisual link in Southport District Court on November 21 for a sentencing hearing.
Haskell previously pleaded guilty to offences including armed robbery in company, dangerous conduct with a weapon likely to cause death or injury, assault occasioning bodily harm while armed, possessing a category D/H/R weapon that was used to commit an indictable offence, and stealing.
The outrageous, highly dangerous offending spree occurred between June 2–9, 2022, the court heard.
Overnight on June 2–3, Haskell, who was on parole at the time, stole registration plates at Eagleby before affixing them to a rented Toyota Camry.
About 6am on June 3, Haskell allegedly drove his co-accused to an address at Quayside Dr, where a young woman was seated in an Audi in her driveway about to go to work.
As the woman’s mother approached the Audi to say goodbye to her daughter, Haskell’s co-accused allegedly rushed them while brandishing a 30cm long, .22-calibre firearm.
The court heard the women fled, while Haskell’s co-accused allegedly drove off in the Audi and Haskell remained in the Camry, which he drove to his accommodation at Meriton Suites Southport.
The following day, June 4, at about 2.40am Haskell stole more registration plates from Marine Pde, Southport, and he spent the morning apparently driving around the Gold Coast aimlessly.
That afternoon just after 5pm, Haskell was driving on Tweed St when he fired a single shot from his driver’s side window into an oncoming vehicle, which contained a family of three, including a 13-year-old child.
The bullet narrowly missed the female driver and passed through the collar of the man, grazing his neck and causing blood to immediately flow.
Haskell, the court heard, then hunkered down for the day at Main Beach’s Sunbird Beach Resort, before emerging early the following morning, June 6.
About 3.45am, he pulled up outside the Arundel Police Beat, where he idled for about a minute before firing two shots into the facility, which contained the officer-in-charge and his family, including three young children.
One bullet struck a police vehicle, the other penetrated a glass door into the office, where it lodged in a wooden door, the court heard.
Police by this point were beginning to triangulate on Haskell, and they attended Sunbird on June 7, but Haskell, who had now allegedly been joined by his co-accused in the Helensvale armed robbery, managed to flee before being apprehended.
The following day, June 8, police attended an address at Rimu Pl, Nerang, about 2.30pm, cornering Haskell and allegedly also his co-accused, leading to an 18-hour siege that ended late the next morning, June 9.
Haskell has spent the intervening period, almost three-and-a-half years, serving out a pre-existing sentence, as well as being remanded on the current charges.
Crown prosecutor Jessica Guy told the court Haskell, whose guilty pleas were considered late for the purposes of sentencing, had displayed “entrenched criminal behaviour” since his early twenties, and had “continually offended while on parole”.
Most seriously, Haskell was jailed in 2014 for trafficking in multiple schedule 1 dangerous drugs, and in 2020 he was jailed for eight years after being found in possession of almost 900g pure methamphetamine.
Because of his continual offending while on parole, Haskell had spent most of the past 12 years in jail, the court heard.
Defence counsel Nicholas Brown told the court his client, despite “bordering on [being] institutionalised,” had undertaken a “significant” quantity of courses and rehabilitative programs behind bars, and was now a “level four overseer” in the prison workshop, supervising a crew of up to a dozen inmates.
Haskell was also enrolled in the opioid substitute treatment program for the first time, enabling him to control his horrendous methamphetamine addiction.
Mr Brown said his client, who had a poor work history consisting only of brief episodes as a roof tiler, a labourer, and a house painter, finds his offending “difficult to grasp” now he is sober.
They were the “actions of a drug-addled mind that can’t be explained,” Mr Brown added.
Judge Katarina Prskalo KC sentenced Haskell to nine years’ imprisonment cumulative on his existing sentence, with parole eligibility set at November 21, 2027.
With the new sentence, Haskell’s full-time release date, should he be unable to convince the Parole Board Queensland of his worthiness, is July 28, 2038.
Haskell’s co-accused is disputing his charges, which include armed robbery in company, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, receiving tainted property, and possessing a category D/H/R weapon that was used to commit an indictable offence.
His trial is listed for the Southport District Court on June 15, 2026.
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