'Coward' teen who assaulted bus driver has sentence reduced

A teen who assaulted and spat on a bus driver has successfully appealed against a period of detention handed down by a magistrate who called him a "coward".

A teenage who spat on a bus driver has successfully appealed a detention order.

A TEEN who assaulted and spat on a bus driver has successfully appealed against a period of detention he was handed down by a magistrate who called him a "coward".

On April27, the 17-year-old was intoxicated and causing a disturbance with a group of children on the back of a bus.

The driver told them to get off in Cooroy, but instead the group approached the man and called him a "dog c---".

According to court documents, the teen then "pushed his face into his" and yelled, "see how brave you are to hit a 17-year-old".

The driver remained calm and told him, "I don't want to hit you" before the teen spat on him and walked away.

The boy was charged with common assault, public nuisance and evade fare following the incident, as well as burglary and commit indictable offence which he committed when he was 15.

A pre-sentence report noted the boy had suffered a "detrimental childhood" and was placed under a long-term guardianship order in 2014 as his parents were drug addicts.

Magistrate Rod Madsen sentenced the teen to six months' detention served as a conditional release order for the assault, and nine months' probation for the property charges.

During the sentencing in Maroochydore, Mr Madsen told the boy, "you have lost the right to seek to excuse your behaviour by peer pressure...".

"I'm not naïve, yes, at times where people like yourself who are having their lives basically administered by a government department, it's really hard.

"But some people actually lead successful lives with that intervention and you, you're just a coward."

On appeal, Judge Deborah Richards considered the teen had shown remorse for his actions and as he had no history of violent offending, the original sentence was "outside sound sentencing principles".

Judge Richards reduced the penalty for the assault to three months' probation with no conviction recorded.