A man who “hunted” a 15-year-old girl “like an animal” in an Aldi store west of Brisbane has been jailed for 10-and-a-half years.
On Wednesday, Benjamin Jeremy Bourke, 28, pleaded guilty to attempted murder of the girl in September 2020.
In CCTV footage of the attack shown in Brisbane supreme court, panicking shoppers can be seen trying to escape the store, in the Ipswich suburb of Booval, as Bourke stalks the girl.
Pleading with shoppers for help, the girl ran around the store with Bourke shooting arrows from a compound bow in pursuit.
One arrow pierced her upper torso after going through her hand and the phone case she was holding up to protect herself.
“She was hunted like an animal around the store for about four minutes,” crown prosecutor Matt Le Grand said.
After a good Samaritan shielded the 15-year-old, Bourke approached with a sledgehammer before being tackled and detained by two customers.
Bourke had targeted the girl after hatching a plan to kill himself following an argument with a housemate. He had decided the way to achieve his goal was to be killed by police.
“In order to provoke the police into a violent standoff, he decided to take a life,” Le Grand said.
Arming himself with the bow, five arrows, three sledgehammers and two knives, Bourke put on a mask and went out looking for someone to kill. Walking down the street, he shot an arrow at a woman jogging past but missed.
He decided against targeting another woman with a baby before noticing the 15-year-old outside the Aldi store, taking off his mask as he approached her.
“I will let you see who I am first,” he said before shooting an arrow at the girl who retreated into the shop.
The girl was in court with her parents on Wednesday, silently sitting through the CCTV footage as Bourke held his head in his hands.
The court heard the girl’s social and family life had been affected since the attack and she remained hypervigilant and suspicious of people in public.
Bourke had not shown remorse, the court was told.
A psychiatric report said Bourke had developed a primitive and immature personality, was angry at the world and felt justified in his anti-social behaviour. He was diagnosed with mild autism and a personality disorder.
Bourke’s drug use was “not an excuse” and he had not been experiencing psychosis during the attack, Le Grand said.
Bourke was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in prison by Justice Tom Sullivan, with a serious violent offender declaration. He must serve 80% of the sentence before being eligible for parole.