SA court sentences boy, 15, for kidnapping French tourists in Adelaide CBD
A boy, 15, held two French tourists at knifepoint – forcing one to perform a humiliating striptease for his amusement – in a terrifying kidnapping in the heart of Adelaide, a court has heard.
Police & Courts
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A boy, 15, forced a French tourist to perform a striptease at knifepoint after he and his accomplice, 16, kidnapped her and a friend in the heart of Adelaide, a court has heard.
In sentencing remarks published online, the District Court has slammed the boy – who cannot be named – for the pleasure he derived from humiliating his victim.
Judge Paul Slattery said the boy’s youth in no way offset his “violent, premeditated and callous” crimes, which deserved an immediate prison term.
“You told the victims words to the effect of ‘This is how we do business here, and welcome to Adelaide’,” he told the boy.
“You appear to have obtained a level of perverse satisfaction from the violent robbery and the cruel degradation and humiliation of your victims, especially the female victim. (Her) sexual humiliation and your cruelty was at the extreme end of the scale, and it continued for a long period of time.
“That was abhorrent behaviour inflicted upon two highly vulnerable people who were strangers to this country.”
The teenagers pleaded guilty to aggravated counts of theft using force and detaining a person to commit an offence, as well as compelling a person to sexually manipulate themself.
They first met their victims on Hindley St in 2018, when the tourists asked them where to purchase cannabis.
The 15-year-old invited the pair to his CBD apartment and, after pretending to call his cannabis dealer, pulled on gloves and armed himself with a knife.
The 16-year-old picked up a hammer before the pair “aggressively” demanded the tourists’ wallets – containing $305 – phones and passports.
The duo forced the woman to gag her male friend with one of her tampons, blindfolded them with their clothes, photographed them and kept them in separate rooms.
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They “tormented” the victims by playing loud music, singing and dancing – punctuated with threats of violence – and forced the woman to perform sex acts upon herself.
The hostages were told that, if they did not comply, their passports would be burned.
In sentencing, Judge Slattery said the gravity of the pair’s crimes meant they deserved to be sentenced as adults rather than youths – deserving more of punishment than correction.
“You knew how vulnerable the victims were and you took a perverse pleasure in so cruelly tormenting them – that is very serious offending,” he said.
He jailed the 15-year-old for three years and 10 months, with a non-parole period of 20 months.
The 16-year-old was jailed for two years and five months, but that term was suspended on condition of a two-year good-behaviour bond.