Hero tradie chases off would-be thief who tried to steal car with young child inside in Brisbane

A quick-thinking tradie has thwarted a would-be thief as they attempted to steal a car with a schoolgirl in the back.

On Thursday, a man wearing a black hoodie jumped into the vehicle on Antill St in Brisbane’s inner north suburb of Wilston about 3.20pm.

Local tradesman Wayne Mepham, who was working across the road, heard an eight-year-old screaming for help and immediately bolted towards the area.

“I heard a young girl calling out: ‘I’m in danger! I’m in danger!’” he told Sunrise.

“So I just dropped everything and ran after them.”

Mepham said he and the girl’s father, who had been dropping something into the house, got to the car just as the offender jumped out and took off down the road.

The tradie and the father chased the man to a local 7/11 before losing him as he ran across a busy road.

“It was quite traumatic,” Mephan said.

“They were pretty shaken up. The young girl was pretty frightened. I just wanted to make sure that they were ok.”

Police arrived a short time later and search for the man, however, as of Friday morning he has not been found.

“She was very brave and said the right things at the right time to try and raise the alarm,” Mephan said.

“Hats off to the people who have taught that young lady to raise that alarm when she felt like she was in trouble. It allowed us to act relatively quickly to at least scare him off.”

Nearby St Columba’s primary school was sent into lockdown as the incident unfolded, with the school’s principal sending out letters to parents on Thursday with a stark warning.

“There was an incident this afternoon around 3.20pm where an individual attempted to break into a car on Antill St while a child was still in the back seat,” the principal wrote.

“The child did not go to St Columba’s.

“A couple of fathers chased the perpetrator through the 7/11 car park and down Days Rd.

“Once we were made aware of the situation, I put the school into lockdown, called the police, and called Wilston State School.

“I spoke with the police once they arrived and they confirmed what had transpired.

“This is a good reminder not to leave children in your car with the engine running when popping into the front office to drop something off or pick something up.

“Things can happen very quickly, and as a school, we are a little vulnerable given our location on a busy road.”

Anyone with information is urged to contact police.