Carjacking victim tells of ordeal
7 Jul 2017, four p.m.
The victim of a horrifying armed carjacking in Black Hill has spoken out, telling he feared for his life when a thug pointed a shotgun at him
Local Business View MoreView More Local Business
List Your Business Here
The victim of a horrifying armed carjacking in Black Hill has spoken out, telling he feared for his life when a thug pointed a shotgun at him.
Eighteen-year-old Eddie Harris had gone for a late-night drive with a friend when they were approached by four studs in two cars at Black Hill’s lookout about Three.45am on Monday.
Mr Harris said one of the offenders abruptly leapt out of his car and fired a gun into the air before aiming it directly at him, requesting he forearm over the keys to his fresh silver Ford Falcon FG.
“I had a gun pointed at me … I was shocked, I didn’t know what to do,” Mr Harris said.
“He was wearing a balaclava and holding what looked like a shotgun.”
The gunman then snatched Mr Harris’ keys and sped off in his silver Ford Falcon, with his accomplices following in the other two cars.
The four guys were aged inbetween their mid-20s to early 30s, according to Mr Harris.
A Ballarat 18-year-old has spoken out about the moment he was held at gun point during a appalling carjacking. #9Newspic.twitter.com/VL3kgug4AV
– nine News Western VIC (@9NewsWesternVIC) July 7, two thousand seventeen
The incident was the subject of an ongoing investigation by Victoria Police’s armed crime squad detectives, who were based at Melbourne’s Spencer Street station.
The probe comes as Assistant Commissioner Robert Hill announced on Friday tracking devices would be installed in Melbourne cars in a trial aimed at reducing car theft and deterring thieves.
GPS devices will be fitted into at least one thousand cars from September as part of a 12-month trial.
Police eventually want to have the devices fitted in all Victorian cars.
“Vehicles can be tracked anywhere across the state, the nation and the globe if required,” Assistant Commissioner Hill told radio station 3AW on Friday.
Two other alleged carjackings at Lake Wendouree and Delacombe had sent shock flaps through Ballarat just last month.
I had a gun pointed at me . I was shocked, I didn’t know what to do. – Eighteen-year-old Eddie Harris
The Victorian Government introduced two fresh offences including carjacking and aggravated carjacking back in December.
Carjacking carries a maximum penalty of fifteen years and those convicted of aggravated carjacking would face a maximum penalty of twenty five years. A statutory minimum non-parole period of three years also applies to aggravated carjacking.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on one thousand eight hundred 333 zero or submit a confidential crime report online.