Riverside village living in fear

By Samantha Elley

From one business owner assaulted with a hammer, a single lady’s home broken in to 10 times, an elderly lady who confronted her home invaders knowing there was nothing she could do, to another business who has spent tens of thousands of dollars on security, the village of Coraki has had enough of youth crime.

A small gathering of residents and business owners met at the Coraki Youth Hall and invited The Northern Rivers Times to hear their stories, as well as discuss options on how they could mitigate this crime wave.

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I was allowed to write their stories under the agreement no names were mentioned or photos taken, for fear of reprisals.

And their stories are harrowing.

“People are coming onto our property,” said one resident, who recently suffered a break-in while they were asleep.

“You see torches at night and they whistle at each other and set the dogs off barking.”

Another resident spoke of how she was in the middle of her house and she heard the knocking.

The beauty of the riverside belies the problems with youth crime in Coraki.

“They knock on the front door, the back door, the side windows, I’m surrounded,” she said.

“They’ve stolen my phone, my keys, my bag. I got them all back as I found them on the front yard.

“It’s just a game to them.”

This same woman was confronted by an intruder at another time, while she was sitting in our lounge one evening and yet another time, while in her garden she was grabbed by the arm as her offender held a scythe they had stolen from somewhere else.

In the middle of the day, a business owner had to confront a 17 year old youth with a hammer, putting himself between the offender and young girl serving at the counter.

“I escorted him out of the shop, after he damaged the front counter, then when I wasn’t looking he hit me on the face with the hammer,” he said.

Another resident recounted the story of an elderly couple who were asleep in bed.

“She heard some rustling so she sat up in bed and screamed,” he said.

“Something flashed in her face, but she didn’t have her glasses on so couldn’t see what it was.

“They stole items from her bedside table including keys, wallet, jewellery and phone, then made their escape.”

Church Lane backs on to the shops in Richmond Terrace and is a common spot for offenders to hide.

Estimates of anywhere between 30 to 60 per cent of people in Coraki have experienced some kind of theft and break in and residents know the police can only do so much.

“We tried to get funding for CCTV cameras to be installed around Coraki,” said one business owner.

“But we were knocked back on a technicality.”

The group now believes many people are leaving the area in fear of becoming targets of the crime in the village.

Solutions that were discussed to help the situation included personal security, such as cameras around the home, stronger screens on windows and doors and even the option of having a guard dog in the yard.

Another idea was to lobby for legislation to cover the responsibility of parents whose children commit a crime, to be liable for their actions.

The re-establishment of Neighbourhood Watch and a community night patrol were mentioned.

The final idea was to apply again to obtain CCTV cameras in the hotspot areas where police and emergency groups receive a live feed.

A representative of  Richmond Valley Council said they would approach local members for help with the solutions discussed.

For more Richmond Valley news, click here.