Home

Christmas jail time for car thief

30.11.11

A PENCHANT for taking cars for test drives and not returning them has left Joshua Graeme Quinn spending Christmas behind bars.

Quinn, 21, on February 25 had been looking over a 2007 Commodore sedan at an Anzac Ave car dealership when he got in and simply drove away, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

Two weeks later, he had used the same ruse in appearing to be a vehicle buyer when he drove away from a Moorooka car dealership in Brisbane in a 2007 Commodore utility, prosecutor Sergeant Tony Costa told the court.

On March 21, Quinn had found a 2002 Holden Monaro with the keys in the ignition in the garage of a Sunset Dr residence in Toowoomba and drove the vehicle to the Gold Coast, where he was seen by police, leading to a brief chase.

Four days later he asked an attendant of a Toowoomba car hire business if he could listen to the engine of a black Subaru WRX, under the guise of hiring it.

He then drove off.

Sgt Costa said police spotted that stolen car at Broadbeach about 2.27am the next day, but despite police sirens and directions to pull over, Quinn had sped away.

Source: Toowoomba Chronicle