Another Queensland family has been targeted by dangerous underage thieves as public outcry continues for tougher penalties for criminal teens.
A gang of young offenders on Wednesday broke into the Hamilton home on Brisbane‘s Northshore, armed with box cutters and knives.
The group stole several luxury items including a Louis Vuitton travel bag and also took off with the family’s Lexus SUV.
The arrogant thieves even took their crimes one step further filming the robbery and posting the terrifying footage to social media.
Video shows the thugs walking through the home brandishing their weapons while the unsuspecting family was asleep upstairs.
The group stole several luxury items including a Louis Vuitton travel bag and also took off with the family’s Lexus SUV (pictured)
One of the family members – who chose to stay anonymous – said she believes the only way to stop further youth crime is to introduce harsher penalties.
The brazen robbery comes just one year after Wallabies legend Toutai Kefu – his wife and two daughters – were almost killed in another Brisbane home invasion.
The youth gang shared videos of themselves walking through the home holding their weapons while the unsuspecting Brisbane family was asleep upstairs
‘They’re children wielding weapons, they’re children who are driving these cars they’re children who steal alcohol and they’re still being tried as children for their adult actions,’ the family member told 9News after the harrowing ordeal.
‘I would like to see people that are taking adult actions to be given adult penalties.’
Retired police superintendent Jim Keough agreed current penalties for serious young offenders were too light.
‘The adults, they know if you do the crime you’re doing the time. Here you’re going to do the crime and you’ll get a gameboy, a night in the watch house then back on the street,’ he said.
Police have confirmed several of the teenagers in the criminal videos are known offenders.
Last year in August, Brisbane’s growing problem with criminal teens was thrust into the national spotlight after Wallabies great Toutai Kefu was stabbed in a home invasion.
Toutai Kefu (right) suffered multiple stab wounds after his wife Rachel (left) encountered a group of teenage intruders in their home
The 47-year-old rugby union legend, his wife Rachel, 46, and two of their children were hospitalised when a youth gang attacked them with an axe and a machete, threatening to kill them.
Rachel had accidently stumbled upon the group after hearing banging noises at about 3am.
She said: ‘Who the f**k are you?’ ‘What are you doing in my house?’ Rachel told the Courier Mail.
‘And they just pulled out their knives and they’re like, “Give us the keys, give us the keys”
Several members of the Kefu family (pictured) suffered serious injuries after an armed youth gang broke into their Brisbane home
Rachel said the teens allegedly threatened her saying: ‘Shut up, shut up, or we’ll kill you’.
Kefu ran into the kitchen and attempted to ward off the young teens by promising not to call police if they leave.
Rachel handed her husband a kitchen knife but he quickly gave it back.
‘They were the same size as my young kids,’ Kefu said. ‘I couldn’t stab them.’
The couple and son Joshua all suffered serious wounds while confronting the attackers while daughter Madi was slashed as she tried to escape the home.
Madi (right) was left with a hand injury after one intruders slashed at her as she escaped and Olivia (centre) had called for police from bushes outside the home
Their eldest daughter Olivia was found hiding in the bushes outside the home where she had bravely called police for help.
Kefu suffered a sliced liver, broken ribs and heavy bleeding which needed seven hours of surgery to repair.
Four teens aged between 13 and 15 were charged with four counts of attempted murder and are facing the prospect of lengthy prison sentences.
In response to the surging rate of youth crime, police launched Taskforce Uniform Knot in February however no information about the investigation have yet been released.
The former World Cup-winning Australia No 8 was attacked at his home in Brisbane in a case that shocked the nation
Pictured: Toutai Kefu (left), daughter Maddie (second left), wife Rachel (second right) and son Joshua (right)
Source: DailyMail
