A group of wild teenage delinquents are causing havoc in a town in ‘s far north with locals saying the community is fast becoming ‘unlivable’.
Kununurra was again hit by another round of vandalism and violence on Tuesday night with three businesses broken into and a police car rammed.
Pub owner Darren Spackman said there was a group of people who were out-of-control and the town was effectively ‘under siege’.
His business, Gulliver’s Tavern, has been ‘targeted’ and broken into on seven separate occasions in the last month.
A group of about 15 teenagers have been on a crime spree in a remote WA town, ramming a police car on Tuesday night (pictured)
Gulliver’s Tavern owner Darren Spackman (pictured) said the town was ‘under siege’ by the group of trouble-makers
‘We’re getting really tired of making apologies for being unable to open our bar but unfortunately once again here we are…
no bar or kitchen due to another break-in,’ the business posted on Facebook.
A local woman in the same community Facebook page said some businesses ‘deal with this every night’.
‘This has been continuously happening for years and years now.
The police lock them up and the courts let them out,’ she wrote.
Gulliver’s Tavern was forced to close on Thursday because vandals had damaged a screen and broken a window at an entrance (pictured, Gulliver’s Tavern)
A photo of the latest damage to a security screen and windows at Gulliver’s Tavern in
‘How can a town in Australia become unlivable all because of 14 or 15 bad eggs?’ Mr Spackman told GWN 7 News.
‘It’s got to stop.
Somebody is going to get killed sooner or later, there’s just no need for it.’
‘Targeting police houses, police cars, they actually ram raided two police vehicles in front of the police station… that has to be an act of terrorism.’
A Kununurra community page detailed several incidents in recent days and weeks including shop and home windows being smashed and personal items stolen, with photos of the alleged crimes.
A self-employed tradie posed images of his van window broken, which thieves did to steal his work iPad, while another showed the window of a home smashed.
Both incidents happened in recent days in Kununurra
Some photos showed the windows of a home on Silberbox Avenue, in Kununurra, smashed in, while another depicted car windows broken so valuables could be stolen from inside.
One man was offering a reward for a Samsung iPad stolen from a work van. ‘Unlawfully removed from one of our vehicles last night,’ self-employed tradie Kevin Williams wrote.
The pub posted to Facebook about a recent break-in just two weeks ago (pictured)
The Kununurra watering hole (left) and Office 365 the delinquents allegedly ramming into the sign (right) that can be seen on the left
Acting WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch said the group of teenagers weren’t out to destroy the town but suggested they were bored.
‘They see it as a game…
cops and robbers… the good and the bad, it’s a game for them. They are very young. I’m talking kids from 11 up to 15,’ he told ABC Radio.
Another local said the teenagers would race their cars along the town’s streets often approaching 100km/h in 50km/h zones.
Mr Blanch said many of the teens had done stints in detention centres only to be released and cause trouble again.
‘I am working very closely with the department of communities, department of justice, mining companies and the government to find alternative solutions,’ he said.
WA Police have temporarily assigned extra officers to Kununurra along with the nearby towns of Derby and Carnarvon.
Kununurra is located in far north WA with a population about 5,300 people (pictured)
