GATECRASHERS who were turned away from an 18th birthday party at Charlestown lobbed house bricks, pavers and rocks over the fence, striking a teenage girl in the head.
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Groups of teenagers – believed to be as young as 15 – descended on an invite-only party at a house in Roslyn Avenue about 7.30pm on Saturday night.
The family of the birthday girl said they had registered the party with police, informed their neighbours and had security on the door to stop unwelcome guests.
But in the latest instance of out-of-control teenagers waging war on the streets of Lake Macquarie, groups of young people turned up in cars and on foot, smashed bottles and tried to gain access to the party.
When one group of teenagers were turned away, they ran up the side of a neighbouring house, grabbed a handful of projectiles and lobbed them over the fence into the backyard of the party house, where about 50 well-behaved guests were standing.
A house brick, a paver and a sharp stone rained down on the roof of the house, bouncing off the facade and into the backyard.
The first two items landed with a thud in the backyard, the third struck an 18-year-old girl in the back of the head. The girl was taken to John Hunter Hospital and received five stitches to the back of her head.
Police took away half a house brick from the party house on Saturday night, and the birthday girl’s family later found two more projectiles in the backyard.
Police say they are investigating and are looking for those people who threw the projectiles into the party.
The birthday girl’s family said they understood the gatecrashers came from an impromptu house party in Joslin Street, Kotara, that was shutdown by police early on Saturday night, scattering scores of teenagers into the street.
“Somebody has put our address up and said there is a party at this place and that is how they've ended up here,” Deanne, the birthday girl’s mother, said on Sunday.
“It could have been a whole lot worse.
“Three rocks were thrown over, they could have hit three people and they could have hurt them quiet severely.
“One of them was half a brick.
“We were very distressed about what happened and very worried that they were going to cause more trouble.
“It’s very upsetting that you try to do everything you can to put on a very safe, nice area for good young kids to celebrate and it turns out like that.
“It makes you wonder why these kids are roaming the streets with alcohol, unattended and unsupervised.
“It's just a really bad culture, this drinking culture, that we need to do something to change.”
