A horrific 3am ram raid on a small-town Queensland community leagues club has been captured on shocking CCTV footage. Western Suburbs Leagues Club general manager Kingsley Theiber said the club had already been forced to reduce staff from 42 to 16 last year due to COVID-19.
Now the Walkerston club, near Mackay in northern Queensland, has suffered extensive damage in the ram raid in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
“If someone’s had a worse day than me I wish they’d ring me,” Mr Theiber told NCA Newswire.
“It’s extremely horrendous given the year of COVID that we’ve had.
“He left a probably $250,000 damage bill — we’ve got to try and find that and we’re a very small operation.”
Footage of the ram raid shows the driver of the Toyota HiLux repeatedly driving backwards and forwards in the club before briefly getting out of the vehicle, taking nothing, and leaving.
Police have appealed for anyone with information or who may recognise the masked driver to come forward.
Mr Theiber said it was the worst ram raid anyone he knew had ever seen.
“He’s in the venue in the first ram … the 15 times he drove back and forth was unnecessary,” he said.
“We need structural engineers. He’s actually moved walls from foundations.”
He said a GoFundMe page was likely to be set up soon with information on the club’s Facebook page.
But he said the best way to support the club was to come in for lunch.
Staff are determined to have the doors open on Thursday for a scheduled wake despite the extensive clean-up needed.
“Coming in and buying a lunch and a coffee is a massive help,” he said.
Walkerston has a population of about 3,500.
A Queensland Police spokesperson said the ute was dumped a short distance away and has been seized for forensic examination.
The vehicle is believed to have been stolen from a Peak Downs Highway address at Eton on Tuesday.
Report information about anonymously to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or via crimestoppersqld.com.au 24 hours a day.

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