A mother who stepped away from her Ford Territory only briefly was forced to watch helplessly as it was stolen with her two four-year-olds in the back.
3AW Drive reports the theft occurred in the northern Melbourne suburb of Doreen yesterday (September 1), just after 6:30am.
“I just loaded the two into the back of the car and went back to hurry up my eldest, to get a move on for the day. In the 10 seconds that it took for me to walk back to the front door, we were taken advantage of,” the mother, Stephanie, told the radio show.
Footage shared by 3AW Drive host Jacqui Felgate on her Instagram account shows two men jumping out of a Toyota Yaris that pulled up in front of the Doreen home. One climbs into the driver’s seat, while the other scrambles into the back of the car where the children were sitting.
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Stephanie is seen running out but is unable to stop the theft and abduction.
She told 3AW Drive that a member of the community who had seen the abduction pursued the vehicle. One child was dumped at a nearby mushroom farm, with the other child removed from the vehicle shortly thereafter.
Fortunately, the children were uninjured.
According to a statement from Victoria Police shared by Ms Felgate, the Territory and Yaris later collided with each other and the latter ended up in a ditch.
The 23-year-old and 16-year-old women in the Yaris were arrested and interviewed, but later released pending summons, while the alleged thieves of the Territory have yet to be located.
“I don’t understand how in today’s society that putting criminals back on the street helps the functionality of society. I don’t understand,” Stephanie told 3AW Drive.
“The politicians need to make sure that our systems and procedures protect the community, who are the ones in the right.”
The incident comes just a day after an attempted carjacking in Ashburton in Melbourne’s south-east, where three thieves tried to steal a Porsche Cayenne from 38-year-old parents and their two-year-old child.
They were able to lock the doors in time before the father reversed the vehicle and struck the carjackers’ Mercedes-Benz, though the offenders were able to escape.
This afternoon, Southern Metro Region Crime Squad charged four teenagers allegedly involved in both the carjacking and a pursuit in South Yarra.
A 13-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy were both charged with attempted carjacking, armed robbery, dangerous driving while being pursued by police, reckless conduct, unlicensed driving, burglary and theft of a motor vehicle.
A 15-year-old boy was charged with attempted aggravated burglary, theft, and theft of motor vehicle.
The three teens have been remanded and will appear at a children’s court this afternoon.
A 15-year-old girl from the Preston area was charged with aggravated burglary, theft of motor vehicle and reckless conduct, and has been bailed to appear at a children’s court at a later date.