An all too familiar story: Another Queensland couple are caught in the youth crime crisis after thugs break into their home and threaten their lives… this is their desperate plea everybody must hear

A traumatized young couple have called for tougher sentences for young offenders after their home was broken into while they were asleep in bed.

Ashlyn Condullas, 22, and her partner Harry have barely slept since early Sunday morning when they were woken by two youths breaking into their home in Cairns in Far North Queensland.

The brazen intruders threatened to kill the couple when confronted and then stole both cars.

The terrifying ordeal prompted Ms Condullas to write to Prime Minister Steven Miles, ministers and local MPs in a desperate plea for help.

The couple and Ms Condullas’ teenage sister, who lives with them, are left heartbroken and traumatized, fearing they will be targeted again.

Ms Condullas is the latest victim in a growing youth crime crisis gripping Queensland, with the state government under pressure to crack down on the matter.

“We’re all quite shocked and shattered, very anxious and very scared to be in our own homes,” Ms Condullas told Sunrise on Thursday.

‘My 16-year-old sister is too scared to sleep in her own bedroom. When I say sleeping, she’s just lying on the floor in our bedroom.

“And we’re not sleeping because we’re all hyper-vigilant and scared.”

Although Harry’s car has since been recovered, Mrs Condullas’ silver Corolla with pink and black personalized number plates is still missing.

She accused the state government of inaction, a frustration she said was reflected by police trying to enforce the law.

“Quite a few said to me, ‘I wish they would stop releasing them once we catch them,’” she recalled.

Ms Condullas, a healthcare paramedic and former Young Citizen of the Year, made an impassioned plea to the Government to impose tougher sentences on youth offenders.

“It’s clear we need action, and we need it now,” she continued.

‘I think that should start with mandatory sentencing for repeat offenders and with detention not as a last resort.

“Because they clearly do the exact same thing over and over again once they’re released.

‘I think it has been proven that they should be detained. I also think that in cases such as theft, burglary, violence or where there is a threat of violence, I think they should be tried as an adult.

‘I don’t think the consequences are severe enough for them. Obviously that’s why they keep coming out and doing the same thing.”

Her open letter and comments had a lasting impression on Sunrise host Matt “Shirvo” Shirvington.

‘I can’t believe you’re only 22 years old. You speak so sensibly, Ashlyn,” he told her at the end of the segment.

It is understood that none of the recipients of the letter responded to Ms Condullas.

Born and raised in North Queensland, she spent time studying and started her career in Townsville and the Sunshine Coast before a job opportunity opened up for her to return home in January.

But it never dawned on her that she would become part of the youth crime statistics until she woke up to intruders breaking into her home and leaving her frozen in fear.

“Little knowledge of what lay ahead would leave us with severe anxiety and post-traumatic stress,” she wrote.

‘With rising youth crime statistics and the lack of action from the current government, I suspect it could very well happen again.’

“It’s safe to say we are traumatized and heartbroken.”

The shattered couple’s dreams of buying their first home by the end of this year have been shattered, with their home security savings going toward a new car and security upgrades to their rental home.

Ms Condullas believed the lack of tougher sentences for juvenile offenders and mandatory sentencing for repeat offenders has “broken” her state.

“Not just the victims of crime, but the heroes on the front lines who risk their lives to catch these perpetrators so they can be let go with nothing more than a slap on the wrist,” her letter continued.

There are growing calls for action from the Queensland government following the tragic death of grandmother Vyleen White, 70, who was allegedly stabbed to death by a teenage boy at a Redbank Plains shopping center last month.

Miles came under fire days later after he laughed when a reporter asked him what his administration was doing about youth crime in his state.