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Fear and loathing in leafy suburbia – how on Earth did we ever get to this point?

The shocking armed home invasion that put former Wallaby Totai Kefu and his family into hospital with stab wounds is not the catalyst for fear in our suburbs – it’s the culmination of it, writes Madonna King

Aug 19, 2021, updated Aug 19, 2021
Police outside the Coorparoo home of former Wallaby great Toutai Kefu, whose home was allegedly invaded and his family attacked with knifes and machetes. (Photo: ABC)

Police outside the Coorparoo home of former Wallaby great Toutai Kefu, whose home was allegedly invaded and his family attacked with knifes and machetes. (Photo: ABC)

A few kilometres away from Toutai Kefu’s house, as the crow flies, one of my friends keeps a cricket bat and a bottle of hairspray at the ready.

Another sets the alarm, each night, as a reminder to check each door and window is locked, before the lights go out.

And a third is saving to buy CCTV cameras. It will be the family’s Christmas present.

The violent assault on Toutai Kefu and his family, who are well-known in the leafy upmarket suburb of Coorparoo, is not the impetus for any of those decisions. But they’ve helped make them more real.

Concern in the inner-city suburbs of Brisbane’s south-east has been brewing slowly since lockdowns began last year, when small waves of crime began to disrupt families and police time.

And each month they’ve grown, as suburban social media accounts plot the nefarious overnight activities of teens, captured on private security cameras.

Footage of break-ins and car thefts, particularly around 3am, are now common. Sometimes, it looks like the same group, some of them raising their middle finger to security cameras. Mostly male, they work in groups of three, but up to five.

An organised crime group looks the likely culprit, one law enforcement officer says. Teens dropped into suburbs, with orders to break into homes, find keys, and take the cars.

“Heads up,’’ a post, after the Kefu attack says, “Police called and at our place in a flash! Camera alarm on our security went off. They’re chasing one guy in a hoodie…Go QPS.’’

It’s probably not coincidental that police were there, this time, in a flash – especially after revelations big suburbs like Coorparoo have been left with police patrols overnight.

Only hours before that post, one Facebook group was told this: “Helicopter circling Morningside. Anyone got info?’’ Yes, it was a police chase, someone else announced. “They slammed into my sister’s car and almost wiped out two pedestrians,’’ another offers.

Each night, or at least every couple of nights, the same story unfolds.

“Pictures from Sunday morning just after 3am, spent several minutes trying to break in the front door,’’ another says – and the culprit, caught on camera, grins before producing his middle finger for the camera.

“They left in a white Mazda 6 station wagon,’’ another post says next to footage of two teens, wearing facemasks while attempting a car break-in on their property.

The crime is becoming more common, and more brazen.

One family recently lost two cars, laptops, jewellery and cash at about 9am, while their adult daughter was at home, having a sleep-in. In another case, the whole family was home and tracked their car as it raced at dangerous speeds through the airport tunnel.

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Some of the crimes are being labelled ‘sneak-ins’, where a window or door is left open. Others are break-ins, where the young criminals are able to use tools to prise open doors and windows.

This is not just happening in the city’s south-east; it’s happening across our city. And so is a growing suburban anger, in response.

In one suburb, a group of men suggested 3am patrols. Others suggested stronger action.

That rising murmur of vigilantism is fed by a lack of police resources; many of which are probably now required on COVID border duties.

But it’s a tide that needs to be stemmed before someone else is seriously hurt.

“We are NOT a venue where you can post what you hope will happen to criminals, such as shooting, electrocutions, baseball bats, dog attacks etc,’’ the administrator of one Facebook group wrote this week.

“The talk fuels the fire for more online abuse, bullying and harassment, or even worse, results in victims taking it into their own hands, with unfortunate results as can be seen from this morning’s reports out of Coorparoo.’’

That was posted on the morning of Toutai Kefu’s assault – allegedly at the hands of a group that included two 15-year-olds and one 13-year-old child.

That’s now a matter for the courts. But it doesn’t fix the problem where suburban families are fearful enough that they are arming themselves with cricket bats, and planning security cameras as Christmas presents.

That’s not the Brisbane we know. And it’s certainly not the Brisbane we want.

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