Teen faces Gympie Childrens’ Court for robbery, assault
A teenager who robbed stores at a popular shopping centre, vandalised a dentist’s signs and then attacked police and youth detention guards, has been sentenced.
Police & Courts
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A 17-year-old Gympie boy has been placed on probation following a spate of offending in which he stole from a pharmacy, broke a police officer’s ribs and threw faeces at officers while he was in the watch-house.
Sentencing remarks by District Court Judge Glen Cash published online reveal the teenager, who cannot be identified, pleaded guilty in Childrens’ Court on February 1 to 10 offences committed between June and August 2023.
His charges included stealing, wilful damage by graffiti, breaking and entering, robbery, three counts of serious assault, and possessing a dangerous drug.
The court heard the crimes were committed while the teen was homeless.
In June the teen stole food from an unidentified supermarket, and in July he graffitied a dentist’s sign at the Southside.
His most serious offending was still to come.
In August the teen entered a tobacco shop twice on the same day, stealing vape pens each time.
The same night he broke into a pharmacy and stole drugs.
A few days later the teen returned to the tobacco shop to steal again, only to this time be confronted by the shopkeeper.
The pair struggled, and the youth fled the scene.
Police arrested him shortly after, with the court hearing officers found valium at his home.
He was taken to the Gympie watch-house, where Justice Cash said he “stuffed wet toilet paper in the toilet and threw it at the walls”.
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When police tried to step in, Mr Cash said, the teen tackled one of the officers, cracking his ribs, and caused him further injury when he “raked” the officer with his fingernails.
The teen then spat on other officers who stepped in to help.
When they finally had the teen restrained, he threw faeces at them under the door.
“Your behaviour was bizarre, irrational, and frankly, disgusting,” Justice Cash said.
The teen was put into youth detention where he “continued to attack officers in an unacceptable way, attacking a supervisor there with a remote control and causing him some minor injury”.
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The court heard the teen had “no real criminal history” and spent 80 days in detention before being given bail, with Justice Cash saying he was seemingly suffering from mental health issues and possibly drug withdrawal.
The court heard the teen’s mother, an overseas national who separated from his drug abusing father separated when he was young.
His mother returned to her home country and he was left to stay with his father, the court was told, leaving school in Year 10.
He soon became homeless.
“Regrettably … you seem to have fallen through the cracks, and were not, at the time, receiving any kind of support from the government,” Justice Cash said.
The teen was now living in stable accommodation and completing a paid traineeship “and there is reason to be hopeful that this event … was really a one-off”.
Justice Cash sentenced the youth to one year’s probation and ordered he spend 10 hours removing graffiti.
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