Benjamin Jeremy Bourke pleaded guilty in Brisbane High Court on Wednesday to the attempted murder of the teenager, whose name cannot be identified for legal reasons, at an Aldi shopping center in Booval, west of Brisbane. , in September 2020.
A man who tried to kill a teenage girl he hunted ‘like an animal’ with a compound bow and arrow in an Aldi supermarket will spend the next 10 years and six months in jail. Crown prosecutor Matt Le Grand told the court that Bourke had armed himself with the compound bow, two knives, and three small mallets when he left his home in Bundamba on September 20, 2020.
The court heard that Bourke got into an argument with his housemate earlier that day and decided to end his life. Le Grand said his solution was to get the police to shoot him, and he devised a plan to achieve that goal.
Benjamin Jeremy Bourke Age
Benjamin Jeremy Bourke is 28 years old.
Benjamin Jeremy Bourke pleaded guilty to attempted murder
“He decided to take a life, he just didn’t know which life he would take,” Mr. Le Grand said. The court heard that Bourke had arrived on foot wearing a mask, a hoodie, and long pants. CCTV footage played back in court showed Bourke walking from Booval train station along South Station Rd armed with a compound bow.
Le Grand said Bourke had considered “choosing” to shoot a mother with her infant son “as his target” but decided to find someone else to attack. CCTV footage also showed Bourke firing the compound bow at an indigenous woman who was running near him but the arrow missed her.
“His reason for [shooting] her was that the woman was indigenous and he didn’t like indigenous [people],” Le Grand said. Mr. Le Grand said Bourke continued on to the shopping precinct because “there would be more witnesses in the stores.”
“Raising an alarm was part of Mr. Bourke’s plan,” he said. “It was when he got to the Aldi store, he found his target.” The court heard that the teen was blocking her bike in the street when Bourke saw her. He walked up to her, removing his mask and saying, “I’ll let you see who I am first” before firing his compound bow at her, firing an arrow that narrowly missed her.
Mr Le Grand said the girl entered the Aldi store in an effort to escape her, but Bourke “chased” her and fired another arrow that grazed her right arm. CCTV footage shows Bourke stalking the girl around the store as she tried to hide behind a pallet.
He fired at her again, this time penetrating her left hand, her phone, and her upper torso, wounding her fingers and chest. The girl managed to escape her sight and showed her wound to the client since the arrow could still be seen lodged in her torso.
Bourke can then be seen approaching the girl from behind her in one of the hallways and shooting her again but misses. The girl runs away again, managing to find another customer who protects her from Bourke while he calmly continues to stalk the store.
Bourke shoots one more arrow at the girl but misses. Mr. Le Grand said that Bourke, while armed with a small mallet, then approached the girl and asked her to return the arrow, but she refused. Bourke then puts his guns down as he tries to talk to the girl, while other customers continue to wander the store.
Two men then approach him and knock him to the ground before the police arrive. Other members of the public had been seen fleeing the store when they saw Bourke carrying the compound bow. The court heard that the entire incident lasted between four and five minutes from the time Bourke chose the girl as his intended victim until he was tackled to the ground.
Le Grand said Bourke had displayed a “selfish mentality” that day and a lack of remorse since the attack. “She was chased like an animal around the store for about four minutes,” he said. “The offense is protracted, it was persistent, and it could easily have had other consequences, and indeed that was Mr. Bourke’s intent.
‘This was a premeditated and deliberate attack, the crime occurred in public. “So it’s not just an example of violence in public, but deliberate violence in public.” The court heard that Bourke had been diagnosed with mixed personality disorder and he was a regular user of cannabis.
Le Grand said that while these health issues were a “contributing factor” to his crimes, Bourke was well aware of his actions and their consequences. “He was able to express his thought process in deciding his ultimate goal,” he said.
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“The fact that he was able to decide not to attack the woman with the child and follow the consequences of that course, had he embarked on killing the woman with the baby, shows that he was able to reason correctly about the difference.”
Le Grand said Bourke never asked about the girl’s health after the attack despite “multiple opportunities to express remorse.” The court heard that Bourke had read the victim impact statements last week.
“In reflecting on the things that he said to me, he’s sorry,” said Bourke’s defense attorney, Charlotte Smith.
‘That’s the first time she’s expressed herself.’
Ms. Smith told the court that her client’s mental health had played a role in the Aldi attack and that “it is less likely that the crime would have happened in the first place” if he had not been dealing with those issues. .
Judge Tom Sullivan sentenced Bourke to 10 years and six months in jail. In his service, the 946 days that he has already served in pretrial detention will be taken into account.
“This was not a crime of passion or immediate, it was a series of events over time,” Judge Sullivan said. He added that he took Bourke’s mental health condition into account in sentencing, but ultimately discovered that he was aware of his actions that day.
“There was a connection between those matters and the offense on this day, however, again consistent with the opinion expressed by [the psychiatrist’s report], it appears that you were aware of what was right and what was wrong and had the ability to control yourself and know what you were doing,’ he said.
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