Melbourne court sees CCTV footage of car being stolen with baby inside
A CCTV grab of the man who got out of a silver Camry shortly before the theft. Photo: ABC News
Gurkan Yildrim pleaded guilty in the Victorian County Court to a number of offences after the carjacking in Coburg in November 2016.
At school pick-up time, the car’s owner – the baby’s mother – was chatting to a friend metres away from her silver SUV, which was idling with the driver’s window down.
The court was played CCTV which showed Yildrim jumping behind the wheel, locking the doors, and winding the window up.
The mother and her friend started banging on the car’s windows urging Yildrim to stop, before the friend jumped on the bonnet as the 25-year-old began to drive away.
The woman was thrown from the SUV when Yildrim clipped a van driving down the street.
As the SUV continued to drive away, the mother could be heard screaming “stop”, “my baby’s in the car” and “call the police”.
Yildrim ditched the car in an alleyway with the baby unharmed in the backseat a short time later.
The court heard he told a man nearby: “I need your help, there’s a baby in the back, I’ve just stolen a car.”
He fled the scene and was arrested a few days later.
Prosecutor Nicholas Goodenough told the court the baby’s mother had been left “scared, traumatised and frantic” by the incident.
Yaldrim’s defence barrister, Belinda Franjic, said his offending was “clearly serious” and had left his family feeling “devastated and embarrassed”.
The court heard Yildrim was highly dependent on the drug ice at the time of the offending, and that he was “effectively out of control”.
Judge Michael Tunney will sentence Yaldrim next Monday.
-ABC
