The footage lasts no more than 20 seconds. But what it reveals is a new low for criminals in one crime-stricken state.
Queensland homeowner Jack Bruce was woken earlier this week by a group of four individuals in the dead of night at his Holland Park home, 9km from Brisbane’s CBD.
Inside the home were Mr Bruce, his wife, his 10-year-old son and his nine-month-old baby when — for the sixth time — he was the victim of an attempted home invasion.
But this one was different.
Mr Bruce says — and the CCTV vision shows — children under 10 were involved in the chilling attempted break-in.
“I was just asleep downstairs. We got alerted on our phones that there was an intrusion alert,” he told Sunrise.
“They sort of come and go very quickly. We were all asleep, our nine-month-old was just sort of waking up, which is why we were alerted.
“It’s at the stage where there’s really little kids involved and they’re actually being used to gain access to areas that adults can’t and then let adults in.
“In this instance the kids were used to vault the wall, then the kids opened the gate for the adults.”
The footage clearly shows two very young children shining smartphone torches around and attempting to gain access through one of the doors.
Queensland Police say they were called to the property and attended, but no arrests have been made.
Mr Bruce says teenagers have been involved in prior attempted home invasions at his property, but he’s never seen children so young on his CCTV.
“To be honest it’s surprised me. In every instance there’s been teenagers involved but it’s the first time that I’ve seen clearly young children involved,” he said.
“It does seem to be each time there’s some adult leading and the kids are used to help to gain access and steal things.”
Speaking to the Courier Mail, which first published the shocking footage, Mr Bruce said: “There’s no way they could have got a full grown adult over our fence. They would have had to vault a kid over”.
Crime in the area has become so bad that Mr Bruce and his neighbours have started a neighbourhood watch group chat after several properties in nearby suburbs were targeted in recent days.
“You get a text when there’s a hailstorm coming to put your car under cover. Well, this is the same, two minutes ago, someone pulled up and tried to rob me. If you’ve got your car out on the street, go get it,” he said.
News.com.au reported earlier this week on a shocking home invasion in Brisbane.
A group of five people, allegedly armed with baseball bats and a firearm, entered a home on Skye St in the suburb of Kenmore at 3.43am on Friday.
The group fled, but shortly afterwards, police swarmed the area and arrested two men and a woman believed to be involved.
They also recovered a replica firearm which can be seen in the footage.
Police arrested a 26-year-old man from Windaroo, a 21-year-old woman from Deagon and an 18-year-old man from Cannon Hill.
The 26-year-old was charged with 18 offences, including one count of breaking and entering, nine counts of possessing prescription-only medication or controlled drugs and six counts of possessing dangerous drugs.
Queensland has been dealing with a youth crime crisis for years. It cracked down on those carrying out violent crimes after a devastating attack on a woman in her home on Boxing Day in 2022.
British expat Emma Lovell had been sleeping inside her home at North Lakes, a quiet suburb in the City of Moreton Bay.
Two teenagers, then aged 17, crept through the front door. Ms Lovell, her husband Lee and the couple’s daughters were woken by dogs barking.
Emma, 41, was stabbed by one of the teens in the heart. Her teenage daughters watched on as ambulance officers performed open heart surgery on her. She died before she could make it to the hospital.
The attack was the last straw for Queensland, where as much as 10 per cent of serious crime is being committed by offenders aged 16 and 17.
Three years on, sweeping changes have come into effect, including the Adult Crime, Adult Time laws that mean children as young as 10 face adult penalties for 33 serious crimes including murder, rape and arson.
The laws are the first of their kind in Australia. They mean that young offenders who previously faced a maximum 10-year jail term for murder now face mandatory life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 20 years.
Victoria followed suit, with the state government introducing the adult time for violent crime initiative, meaning teens who commit violent acts will have their matters heard in the County Court rather than a children’s court.
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