Local Man All For A Joke But Make Fun Of His GWM Tank Again And Someone’s Getting Stabbed

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact

A local man who says he can take a joke has reportedly reached his limit after repeated comments about his new GWM Tank during a backyard barbecue last Saturday.

Witnesses say Shane Dempsey, a 36-year-old office person, arrived in good spirits and was the first to crack open a Heaps Normal XPA. Friends say he handled the usual jokes about his receding hairline and NFT investments without issue. But when talk turned to his Chinese-built four-wheel drive, things shifted.

“It was fine until someone called it a Beijing billy cart,” said one guest.

“He just went silent for a while. Then he went inside and came back with the knife from the Weber set. It wasn’t pointed at anyone, but it wasn’t not pointed either.”

The Tank, which Dempsey says can do everything a Prado can for half the price, has reportedly been a source of tension in the group since the purchase earlier this year. Friends have accused the car of looking “like a Nissan Patrol but on the spectrum” and questioned whether it could handle the nearby Birdsville Track without falling apart.

“Mate, you can only be told your car’s made of recycled newspapers and pigeon spot so many times before you crack,” said another mate, declining to give his name in case Shane reads this.

“He reckons it’s got military heritage. It’s a Chinese Hummer, he reckons, which sounds like something you’d get arrested for doing in public, if you ask me.”

Police attended the scene after neighbours reported shouting. No one was injured. The barbecue continued after Dempsey left, with witnesses saying the Tank remained parked out front, rusting before everyone’s eyes.

More to come.