Veering left and right, a knife-wielding Brett John Jackson first tried to tip a 17-year-old girl out of her own car as he sped away from her screaming mother.
Jackson finally pushed her from the moving vehicle after dragging her 13-year-old brother down a driveway.
More than a year after the violent carjacking, Jackson, 24, on Tuesday appeared in Brisbane District Court on a string of charges.
In May 2022, Jackson answered a car ad posted by the girl and went to her house in Brisbane’s inner-west for a test drive.
“Not only did you intend to steal the car, you arrived (at the girl’s house) by unlawfully taking your aunt’s car,” Judge Nicholas Andreatidis said.
After driving around the block with the girl and her mother in the Holden for sale, Jackson parked outside their house – then produced a 15cm knife.
“Get out of the car,” Jackson yelled at the girl who was in the front passenger seat.
The mother screamed as she tried to help her daughter unbuckle her seat belt, before the father and brother came out running.
The father opened the driver’s door but backed off when Jackson pointed the knife at him.
The brother grabbed a door handle in a bid to help his sibling but Jackson began reversing at speed down the driveway, dragging the 13-year-old to the gutter.
The girl couldn’t undo her seatbelt and remained in the car as Jackson sped away.
“All the while you held a knife at her and screamed at her to get out of the car,” Judge Andreatidis said.
He veered left and right in a bid to tip the girl out of the car, at one stage driving on the wrong side of the road.
Jackson was eventually able to unbuckle her seatbelt before pushing the 17-year-old out of the moving vehicle.
The girl suffered a heel fracture extending to the ankle as well as a broken forearm.
The 13-year-old brother had abrasions to his hands and knees.
Both children are now on edge and have trouble sleeping and trusting people, the court heard.
“The memory of the crimes committed by you are painful and difficult for them to relive,” Judge Andreatidis said.
The uninsured Holden was found days later extensively damaged.
Defence barrister Steven Jones said Jackson – who was on parole at the time – was under the influence of drugs and “wasn’t thinking straight” in May 2022.
Jackson got in with the wrong crowd after leaving school and became addicted to methamphetamine and cannabis, he said.
However, Jackson had reflected on his behaviour while in pre-sentence custody and planned to change his ways, the court heard.
“The penny’s dropped for him,” Mr Jones said.
Jackson pleaded guilty to a number of charges including armed robbery and two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm.
Jackson was sentenced to five years in jail and will be eligible for parole in November.
He was also disqualified from driving for 12 months.