William John Doidge was armed with knife when he robbed woman of her car in car park

A 21-year-old Harristown father held a knife to a woman’s face before stealing her car in a Toowoomba shopping centre carpark before lying to police about the drama. Now he’s been sentenced.

William John Maximos Doidge grabbed the woman’s handbag which she had strapped to her and went to throw it across the car park but in the process knocked the woman to the ground, leaving her with a fracture to her tailbone.

William John Doidge was wearing a balaclava when he rushed a woman in a Toowoomba shopping centre carpark, held a knife in her face, stole her car, leaving the woman with significant mental trauma and a fractured tailbone.

The 21-year-old Harristown father was jailed for four years in Toowoomba District Court on Tuesday, when it was heard a 50-year-old woman was returning to her car after withdrawing $20 from an ATM at Clifford Gardens Shopping Centre about 11.10pm, May 8, 2023

Doidge and an unidentified male accomplice were dressed in dark clothing, hoodies and balaclavas to disguise their identities and each was armed with a knife, Crown prosecutor Nicole Friedewald told the court.

After one of the men yelled “Get the money, get the phone, get the car”, the woman quickly got inside her vehicle but was unable to lock the door before Doidge opened the driver’s side door and held his knife in the woman’s face as his accomplice went around to the passenger side, she said.

Doidge had then grabbed the woman’s handbag which she had strapped to her and went to throw it across the car park but in the process knocked the woman to the ground, leaving her with a fracture to her tailbone, the court heard.

The court heard the incident had a significant impact on the woman’s mental health and she was since unable to work or go out at night and she suffered nightmares and flashbacks.

Doidge had then jumped into the driver’s seat and the two men drove off in the stolen vehicle.

The car was later seen doing 100km/h in a 60km/h zone along Ruthven and then on Stenner, Hume and South streets before crashing into a brick mailbox outside a residence in West St, Ms Friedewald said.

Doidge had then run off but was soon found by police to whom he initially lied, telling officers he wasn’t involved with the car at all, she said.

William John Doidge was jailed on February 6, 2024, for four years after pleading guilty to the armed robbery of a 50-year-old woman in Clifford Gardens car park.

Doidge, who had spent about nine months in jail since his arrest, appeared in custody to plead guilty to armed robbery in company in the night and unlawful use of a motor vehicle in company in the night.

Ms Friedewald told the court Doidge had a lengthy criminal history for someone so young which included eight previous convictions of unlawful use of a motor vehicle, five of burglary and four of possessing knives in public as well as drug offences.

Doidge’s barrister Doug Wilson said his client usually lived in Harristown with his mother who was in court supporting him.

Doidge had a three-year-old child who lived with the child’s mother and he did have ambitions upon release from jail of becoming a personal trainer, he said.

Judge Anthony Rafter SC referring to the woman’s victim impact statement said the experience for the woman would have been “frightening”.

Judge Rafter sentenced Doidge to four years in jail but, declaring 273 days of presentence custody as time served under the sentence, ordered he be eligible to apply for parole as of September 8, 2024.