Kidnap carjacking ends in jail for Qld man

A Queensland man who violently stole a car with a three-year-old girl still inside was so drunk he didn't remember committing the crime.

Jesse Earl Langlands, 21, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment at the Ipswich District Court on Thursday for the violent carjacking at a shopping centre car park in Laidley, west of Brisbane, last December.

With time already served, Langlands will be eligible for parole after three months.

Langlands had been on a pub crawl with his father when he dragged a 41-year-old woman from her car by her hair.

The woman was able to get her nine-year-old daughter out of the car but her youngest child was still in the vehicle when Langlands drove off.

The toddler was located 500 metres away on the side of the road unharmed, while police eventually found the severely damaged car some 25 kilometres away.

The court heard Langlands had been Christmas shopping the following day when he was informed police were looking for him.

Defence barrister Michael Bosscher said only when he saw news coverage of the incident at a police station did he realise what had occurred.

Crown prosecutor Amanda Robinson said the mother suffered severe trauma from the incident before later admitting empathy towards Langlands.

"One can only imagine how she felt as the defendant drove off with her three-year-old in the car," Ms Robinson told the court.

Judge Dennis Lynch said it was clear from this incident and Langlands' criminal history he had a problem with alcohol.

Judge Lynch warned Langlands he would find himself spending "longer and longer and longer" periods in jail if he didn't change his ways.

"You are simply someone who mustn't drink," he said.

"The only one who can do something about it, is you."

Langlands was also given a non-contact order for the mother and the shopping centre car park where the crime occurred.