Supercars star's family caught up in Gold Coast attack
Former Supercars champion Russell Ingall's two daughters have been caught up in a violent attack while shopping on the Gold Coast.
Photo by: Dirk Klynsmith
Ingall's daughters, 13 and 15, were attacked shortly after exiting a tram while embarking on a daytime shopping trip recently. The pair and some of their friends were set upon by a group of what Ingall has described as thugs, video of the attack later ending up on social media.
The two-time Bathurst 1000 winner has since appeared on Australian TV show A Current Affair to describe what his daughters went through.
“I’ve done some pretty dangerous things in a racecar over my time, pretty scary situations; I’ve never been so scared [as when] I got a phone call from my daughter who was being attacked by a group of thugs,” said Ingall.
"[It was] totally unprovoked. A group of thugs came up, approached them, starting pushing them around. Luckily my daughter broke away, phoned me, and it was the most harrowing calls I've ever got in my life.
“The girls were absolutely traumatised. You imagine being approached by a big group of teenagers. There were boys amongst that as well, egging the girls on."
Ingall is now calling for harsher penalties for unprovoked violence, and more security on public transport.
"It's always risking going public with these sorts of things, and I still fear for my girls' safety as well. But as a society we sit on our hands. We don't do anything," he told the TV show.
“These thugs just get a slap on the wrist, a suspended sentence, and they know it.
“They know what they can get away with, they know as a minor they can get away with these sorts of things.
“Our judicial system is so bad in this country it’s ridiculous, and it has to be changed to teach these thugs a lesson and get them off the street.”
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