Toowoomba youth crime: Cranley retiree reveals impact of multiple break-ins as Qld election looms

Carol Mayes and her husband have had their house broken into four times in just a few years, leaving her anxious and lying awake at night.

Carol Mayes is often awake at night, checking her doors and windows, looking for strange cars or unlocked entry points, after being broken into four times in recent years.

“I couldn’t sleep at night, my husband would find me up at night checking the windows and the doors,” the retiree said.

“It disturbed me quite a bit.”

The Cranley couple is among the hundreds of victims of Toowoomba’s youth crime crisis, which could lead to seismic shifts in both political and police leadership this year.

Ms Mayes said the pair’s move from Wilsonton Heights to their current home coincided with a sharp uptick in criminal activity.

Toowoomba resident Carol Mayes talks about her experiences with youth crime, Saturday, February 17, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

While the first break-in back in 2018 made her feel violated, she said the most egregious incident left her paranoid within her own home.

“They scaled the drainpipe up (to the upper floor) — they had gone through every drawer upstairs before they came downstairs,” Ms Mayes said.

“They’d gone through all the drawers — everything was opened.

“I was watching TV and heard a noise and thought it was my husband, (and) I went outside — my neighbours told me these kids had been going back and forth to a car outside with (our) things.

“I noticed the cars had been gone through — I came into the kitchen area and realised two of my handbags were gone.

“The fact my pillow was cut — I could’ve been a victim of a stab wound (so) I’m so glad I wasn’t upstairs that day.”

Photographer Robert Brown. Picture: Nev Madsen.

The testimonies of victims come just weeks after Ipswich woman Vyleen White was stabbed to death in the parking lot of her local shopping centre on February 3.

Five youths have been charged in relation to her death in courts across southeast Queensland.

This was tragically nearly a year to the day of the alleged murder of Toowoomba man Robert Brown, whose death helped spark a statewide examination of the youth crime issue.

Police allege Isaac Zane Cubby pushed Mr Brown from behind outside Grand Central Shopping Centre on February 6, 2023, causing him to fall and hit his head on the bitumen.

New crime data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveals a six per cent increase in the number of young criminals in 2022/23 in Queensland compared to the previous year, as well as a spike in the number of serious repeat offenders.

Juveniles were responsible for 10,382 unlawful entry offences, 7332 unlawful use of a motor vehicle offences, 1437 robbery offences, and eight murder offences in 2023.

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll is facing pressure to keep her job following an open revolt by hundreds of officers over her handling of the issue and the increasing demands on the Queensland Police Service.

Youth crime will also be a major theme at the upcoming state election, with Premier Steven Miles continuing his criticisms of judicial sentencing of youth offences while also looking to open up courtrooms to journalists as well as victims and their families.

Ms Mayes said the issue would dictate how she voted later this year, arguing more needed to be done.

“Definitely (it will affect my vote) — I went to one of the meetings for the last state election, and that was one of my questions,” she said.

“They’ve got to know there are consequences to offences.”

In some good news, Ms Mayes revealed she’d been a successful applicant for the expanded Helping Seniors Secure Their Home program by the Queensland government, meaning she would be able to buy CCTV for her home.