Footage has captured the moment two teenagers allegedly stole a car from outside a house hours before a deadly crash that killed three people.
The footage shows the two hooded figures casing the yard of the property at Maryborough, in Queensland, just after 8.30pm on Sunday.
Minutes later they are seen getting behind the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz parked in the driveway.
The car then immediately slams into a fence, knocking it down as the vehicle backs out of the driveway.
CCTV footage allegedly shows two teenagers casing the house on Sunday (pictured)
The stolen car hours later allegedly smashed into a Holden on a Maryborough highway which was then shunted into a Mazda, killing three people
A 13-year-old who was allegedly driving has been charged after the car crashed into the back of a Holden on Saltwater Creek Road at about 10.45pm on Sunday.
Recent Riverside Christian College graduate Kelsie Davies, 17 and church pastor Michale Chandler, 29, were killed in the crash.
The force of the crash also shunted the vehicle into a Mazda, causing the death of its driver, nurse Sheree Robertson, 52, who was driving home after work.
The occupants of the Holden were understood to be returning from seeing a movie, with the third passenger fighting for life in a Brisbane hospital.
A resident on the street where the car was allegedly stolen from, Joan Massingham, said she heard the car hitting the fence.
‘I heard an almighty bang and thought a (truck) trailer had hit the fence,’ Ms Massingham told 7 News.
One of Ms Davies’ teachers and Bundaberg MP Tom Smith paid tribute to his former student on Monday.
‘Kelsie was a student that every teacher wishes that they could teach,’ he said.
‘She was always keen to learn, eager to aim high, and was most importantly just a very kind and sweet-natured kid that every one of her peers loved.’
Ms Chandler’s husband Matthew also paid tribute to the beloved wife and mother.
‘It is with the utmost heavy heart that we say goodbye for now to our darling Michale Chandler,’ he wrote.
‘You were and will continue to hold the world’s greatest wife and mum award.
‘Until we meet in heaven my Queen, love you to the moon and back.’
The couple had earlier in April celebrated one year as credentialed pastors at Maryborough’s Reach Church.
While colleagues of Ms Robertson said the nurse would be sorely missed.
The figures then get behind the wheel of vehicle and back out of the driveway, demolishing a fence (pictured)
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Kelsie Davies, 17, was killed on Sunday night in the Queensland city of Maryborough when a Mercedes allegedly being driven by a 13-year-old boy smashed into the Holden she was in
Ms Chandler’s husband Matthew paid tribute to the beloved wife and mother
‘She was a light on the ward. She was just loud and boisterous,’ graduate nurse Caitlyn Brown said.
Emergency crews from the community are being praised for their professionalism after they arrived at the scene and recognised the nurse and another victim who is a relative of a local police officer.
Police said a passenger in the Mercedes was believed to have fled the scene of the crash, while the 13-year-old sustained minor injuries to his foot during the crash.
He was charged with three counts of dangerous driving causing death and one count of unlawful use of a motor vehicle.
The teen is due to appear in Maroochydore Childrens Court.
The charges come six weeks after Queensland passed a suite of measures designed to drive down youth crime, including harsher prison terms for car thieves.
Police are still investigating the incident and have asked for information from anyone who saw the silver Mercedes in the Maryborough and Hervey Bay area before the crash.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Monday said her heart went out to the grieving families.
‘This is an awful awful tragedy and it should not be happening,’ she told reporters.
Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers was furious on Monday.
‘The courts have actually got to stand up when we lock these kids up.’
Nurse Sheree Robertson, 52, was killed in a Mazda as she drove home from work at Maryborough Hospital
Mr Leavers said he knows Maryborough and Harvey Bay well from his 30 years on the Queensland Police Force.
‘There is a core group of under a dozen young people who are causing mayhem and putting the community at risk,’ he said.
‘They need to be incarcerated and put away because they cannot live by society’s standards.
‘States across Australia want to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14. That would mean this 13-year-old would not be held to account.
‘We cannot even put them before the courts.’
Currently across Australia children aged 10-14 are subject to criminal law but it must be proven they understood what they were doing was wrong.
A 2020 report from the Standing Council of Attorneys-General recommended doing away with this and raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14.
