Mareeba man, Rick Van Wensveen, 33, sentenced for shooting at and attempting to run down love rival
A former tiler shot at a love rival and tried to mow him down in broad daylight following a high-speed chase through the centre of Mareeba, a court has heard.
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A former tiler shot at a love rival and tried to mow him down in broad daylight following a high-speed chase through the centre of Mareeba, a court has heard.
Rick Van Wensveen, 33 of Mareeba, pleaded guilty to one charge of dangerous conduct with a weapon, one charge of dangerous operation of a vehicle as well and three summary charges, two of unlawful use of a motor vehicle and one count of driving while unlicensed related to a Christmas Eve rampage in Mareeba in 2023.
Crown prosecutor Angus Malyon played a compilation of CCTV capturing it unfold.
The vision showed two cars, one a stolen Ford Raptor hire car driven by Van Wensveen and a Subaru wagon, driving at speed through the town and swerving towards each other.
Mr Malyon said footage captured from a Mitre 10 hardware store showed the two vehicles driving on Walsh St with the Raptor slamming its brakes and causing a collision which rendered the Subaru “inoperable”.
The raptor then drives to the side of the Subaru as the other driver steps out of the vehicle where Van Wensveen points and fires a shotgun in the direction of the man who dives for cover behind the vehicle.
Van Wensveen then drove up the road, performed a U-turn, and, using the car “as a weapon”, attempted to run down the man “at speed”.
Mr Malyon said the attack occurred in the middle of the afternoon a street back from the main Mareeba strip.
“It was only by good luck that no one was injured,” he said.
Van Wensveen was later arrested on December 29 when the vehicle was stopped and discovered to be using false number plates.
Defence counsel Kelly Goodwin told the court Van Wensveen had previously worked as a tiler between Townsville and Mareeba but fell back into drug use, alcohol, and depression after the death of his father.
He did not say Van Wensveen was under the influence at the time of the incident.
Mr Goodwin submitted no shotgun pellets hit the vehicle suggesting the shotgun was aimed above it.
Judge Joshua Trevino KC dismissed the submission asking “would the complainants head not be there above the vehicle where he was standing?” noting “he was extremely lucky”.
Mr Goodwin was only able to explain the events were a result of a “longstanding disagreement between parties involving a woman”.
Judge Trevino called the offending a “shocking and self-indulgent expression of anger, stupid to the extreme”.
He said it was only by “dumb luck” that no one was injured or killed.
Judge Trevino added dashcam footage made for “chilling viewing” and described Van Wensveen’s actions as from a “B-grade action movie” only not on a sound stage but in the centre of Mareeba.
Van Wensveen was sentenced to four years imprisonment with 446 days in custody declared.
He was given parole eligibility at one third of the sentence on April 29, 2025.
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Originally published as Mareeba man, Rick Van Wensveen, 33, sentenced for shooting at and attempting to run down love rival
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