NOTE: this is an opinion piece about the spin and commentary related to this event. New England Times does not cover crime as we are currently not funded to do so, we recommend the ABC news coverage if you are seeking a news report.
Police, politicians, and plenty of keyboard warriors have been quick to take the high ground and condemn three young boys involved in an incident that cost a Narrabri man his life at Gunnedah yesterday.
NSW Police have initiated an investigation into the incident after officers engaged in two high speed pursuits of the boys. The investigation would look at how the events unfolded and what culpability police have in causing the death of the motorcyclist.
However, most politicians and members of the public have already condemned the boys. There is no room in the intense debate for what were the drivers that led to the three 14 year old boys to steal a car and drive more than 200 kilometres from Moree. Where they were going or why – as they clearly were not joyriding around town – is forgotten as the chest beating and demands for action reach fever pitch.
The facts
These are the facts as they are known, largely from NSW Police, of what happened on the morning of Tuesday, January 28, 2025.
An Isuzu D-Max utility was stolen from Moree in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
About 7.15am, officers attached to Traffic and Highway Patrol attempted to stop the ute on the Kamilaroi Highway, west of Gunnedah, almost 200 kilometres from where the vehicle was allegedly stolen.
The ute failed to stop, and police initiated a pursuit towards Gunnedah.
On the Kamilaroi Highway at Gunnedah, the ute – still under pursuit by police – collided with a motorcycle. ABC News reported it is understood the motorcycle had pulled out from a service station and into the path of the oncoming ute.
Police stopped to assist the motorcycle rider who was critically injured. The man has not been named, but he was a 52 year old man from Narrabri. He was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics; however, he could not be revived and died at the scene.
The ute continued through Gunnedah on to the Oxley Highway, heading towards Tamworth, and additional police attended to assist and initiated a second pursuit.
At Carroll, east of Gunnedah, the ute lost control, left the road and crashed. The three teenage boys allegedly ran from the scene on foot.
Following a search, the three boys, all aged 14, were arrested and taken to Tamworth Police Station.
A critical incident investigation team from Orana-Mid Western Police District will investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident. The investigation is also subject to an independent review.
The driver has been charged with 15 charges, while the two passengers have been charged with five each.
All three appeared before Tamworth Local Court today. Their solicitors applied for the boys to be released on bail, but the prosecution argued they were a flight risk, and all three were denied bail.
The comments
A three line statement was issued by NSW Premier Chris Minns.
“I extend my deepest condolences to the families, friends and loved ones grieving this profoundly tragic event.
“A critical incident team from Orana-Mid Western Police District has begun an investigation into what happened yesterday.
“I understand that three boys have been arrested and refused bail.”
State MPs Kevin Anderson and Brendan Moylan were quick to put out a joint statement calling for urgent action, and the unfortunate death a “tragic escalation” of the crime situation. The following is a copy and paste from their release.
Member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson said he is deeply disturbed by an incident involving a stolen car, that led to the death of a motorcycle rider in Gunnedah.
“This is a tragedy that never should have happened. An innocent life has been lost because of the reckless actions of these offenders,” Mr Anderson said.
“My thoughts are with the family and friends of the victim who will be mourning the loss of their loved one, as well as with the first responders who worked tirelessly to try and save a life.
“Our communities are outraged by the Government’s complete lack of action to get on top of this serious issue, and I am calling on the Premier to do more to keep them safe.”
Member for the Northern Tablelands Brendan Moylan echoed the calls, saying something needs to change.
“One death is one too many and this should be a clear turning point for the Government to recognise it needs to step up,” Mr Moylan said.
“Too often we see repeat offenders or people out on bail committing these crimes and we can’t keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
“It’s been almost a year since the Premier announced the Moree pilot program and we haven’t seen any tangible change on the ground.
“People are still scared and fed up and we need to urgently know exactly what progress has been made to stop these types of incidents from ever happening again.”
One clarion voice seeking understanding rather than grandstanding is Moree Mayor Susannah Pearse, who again was in the position of expressing sadness at the news of another awful impact of crime connected to her shire.
“More than one life was ruined yesterday. The perpetrators involved will need to live with the results of their actions, and with a critical incident investigation underway, police who already have a tough job will have their handling of the matter put under the microscope.
“There are no wins, only immeasurable loss,” she said in her public statement.
Speaking exclusively to New England Times, Mayor Pearse said she had been in contact with various officials and the Premier’s office, and had reiterated her call for the current Inquiry into Community Safety in Regional and Rural Communities to hold a hearing in Moree.
“This does follow our our community has been saying for some time that enough is enough. The systems are failing us,” she said.
“It is a complex problem, and we have to make sure that any solutions are solutions that address the underlying issues as well as the acute law and order issues.
“We need to be seeking to understand the core root of the problems, as well as the solutions.”
Pearse says she had already asked some weeks ago, shortly after becoming Mayor, for a hearing to be held in the Moree Plains, and it was a request she repeated after yesterday’s events.
“Our community wants to be heard. Our community wants to be part of solutions. So out of respect, we’d like a hearing of that Inquiry to be held here.”
The reality
Regardless of the criminal record the three teenage boys may or may not have, there is no intention to take a life when someone steals a car. Whether to take it for a drive for fun, or to travel to somewhere as would appear more likely in this case, the accident in Gunnedah was an accident.
Accidents happen. And as tragic as they are, they are not an intentional criminal act. That’s why they’re called accidents.
The police pursuit was an intentional act. Fully grown adults who have been given training in such matters chose to chase children in a car, at speed, towards a populated area.
And then, when an accident had happened and a life had been lost, they chose to repeat that action, and again chase children in a car, at speed, towards another populated area.
Then, once they had chased them in a manner that caused another crash of the allegedly stolen vehicle, and arrested the three young people, they piled on a list of obviously overlapping or duplicate charges. All three were charged with:
- Enter building/land with intent commit indictable offence
- Aggravated break and enter commit serious indictable offence
- Take and drive conveyance without consent of owner, and
- Be carried in conveyance taken without consent of owner.
All three were also charged with one that probably shouldn’t be on the books in its current form “Face blackened/disguised with intent commit indictable offence”.
No doubt there will be what is called in legal and police circles a “scrum down”. This where police officers deliberately collude to put an altered version of “facts” before the court, to make the offenders appear worse than they are, and protect police from any allegation of wrong-doing.
In simple terms, they all agree to lie to the court with the same story to get a better chance at a conviction. It’s more common than you might think.
This behaviour by police – both the excessive charges and the “scrum down” – are well known by criminologists and the system itself as “noble cause corruption”. Essentially, cops doing the wrong thing because they believe it achieves the right outcome. It is well known and documented that Indigenous Australians are more commonly targeted by this unethical charging and misleading of the courts behaviour than white offenders. It was well noted in the Wood Royal Commission 30 years ago. Nothing has changed.
There have been intentionally violent home invasions, assaults and robberies in the past year or so that are absolutely an escalation of crime in Moree and elsewhere – but yesterday’s accident was not that.
Three kids stole a car. There is nothing new or escalated there.
The reality is that a life has been lost, and three young lives will be destroyed, because police did something dumb that made a bad situation worse, not better. Nothing new there either.
While the politicians beat their chests and the warriors beat their keyboards, we are no closer to the solutions. Nothing has changed.
New England Times joins with the community in expressing condolences to the friends and family of the man who lost his life in the accident.
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