A Queensland taxi driver who witnessed a deadly attack on his elderly passenger is calling for harsher penalties for youth offenders.Â
Dashcam vision shows taxi driver John McDougall pulling up to Toowoomba’s Grand Central Shopping Centre as his would-be passenger is pushed head-first into the road and robbed of his backpack last February.
“He had blood on the back of his head, his glasses were broken, shivering sort of thing, hardly moving at all,” McDougall said.
The victim, 75-year-old avid local photographer Robert Brown, died in hospital a week later.
“Witnessing that sort of crime really takes its toll on you,” McDougall said.
The teenager who pushed him pleaded guilty to manslaughter, robbery and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.
He was given seven years’ jail, including time already served, only half of which he will spend behind bars. That means he could be out by 2026.
If he was three months older he could have faced life in prison.
“I was just traumatised by the fact that such a manifestly inadequate sentence can be given for someone taking someone else’s life,” McDougall said.
He called for harsher penalties for youth offenders to give more justice to victims.
Two others charged over Brown’s death are still before the courts.
