Teen pleaded guilty in Hervey Bay Children’s Court to dangerous driving

An unlicensed teenage boy who drove a car into a young scooter rider before robbing him already had a ‘significant body of offending’ on his rap sheet.

The boy drove into the back of a boy on an electric scooter.

A court has heard of the troubling actions of a teenage boy who drove into the back of a person riding a scooter and was involved in an incident where a man was robbed with a replica gun.

The boy, 16, pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous operation of a vehicle, robbery in company, driving without a licence and possessing dangerous drugs when he faced the Hervey Bay Children’s Court this month.

It was described as a “significant body of offending” by Judge Michael Burnett.

The court heard in one incident, the boy was driving a vehicle along Urraween Rd about 1.35am with three passengers in the car.

The posted speed limit was 60km/h, but the teen approached an intersection, speeding up to 120km/h crossing lanes without indicating and going through a red light.

“And dangerous it was. You have no idea potentially how much danger you were in on that occasion and what could have happened if something unforeseen had occurred,” Judge Burnett said.

Someone in the front seat of the car filmed the incident and put it on social media, the court was told.

“That a very disturbing trend that seems to be happening a lot,” he said.

A couple of hours later, the teen came across a teenager riding an electric scooter on a bike path in Scarness.

The teen and two co-offenders mounted the bike path in the vehicle and hit teenage boy from behind, causing him to fall beside the car.

“I can’t emphasis how stupid your behaviour was and how potentially dangerous it was,” Judge Burnett said.

At the time of the driving offences, he did not hold a driver’s licence, the court heard.

Having hit the victim, one of the passengers allegedly got out of the car and tried to take the scooter, the court heard, while the boy got out of the car, punched the victim to the left side of the cheek and demanded he give him his watch.

“He told you in no uncertain terms what to do,” Judge Burnett said.

Hervey Bay Court. Photo: Tracey Joynson

The scooter was taken and they drove off the court heard.

The victim’s cheek was slightly bruised and the scooter was quickly found by police.

When police later spoke to the boy, attending the residence where he was staying, they found cannabis in his bag, the court heard.

In a separate incident, a co-offender was driving a car when they saw a person ride by on a scooter in the other direction.

The car did a u-turn and they followed the man, swerving in front of him and stopping the car suddenly, the court heard.

The boy and an alleged co-offender got out of the car.

One of the co-offenders had his face covered and was carrying a replica-style gun, the court heard.

The victim had believed the gun was real but later found out it was not.

One of the offenders demanded the person’s phone and scooter.

Another offender was also armed with a baseball bat, the court heard, but he put it down and took a hatchet out of a bag.

The value of his phone and scooter was about $3700.

Both victims had experienced significant trauma, the court heard.

The court heard the boy’s family supported him.

He had been educated to Year 7 but was not currently engaged in education.

Judge Burnett empathised the need for the boy to return to education and find work rather than continue down the path he was on.

He said at the time of the offending he was said to have been under the influence of meth but since that time he had sought to resist using drugs.

“Let’s hope that you have done so,” Judge Burnett said.

The boy was sentenced to two years on probation and was given a restorative justice order.