Teen car thief bashed corrections staff, joy-ride stolen Porsche and other cars around Central QLD

The ‘very confronting’ childhood of a Central Qld teen criminal has been heard in court, with revelations he was exposed to chronic physical, emotional and verbal abuse, neglect and exposure to substance abuse from the age of eight months.

A juvenile car thief who went on a car stealing spree through Central Queensland from his government accommodation in Maryborough to Rockhampton, Yeppoon and Woorabinda was failed by Queensland’s child safety department, a judge has remarked.

The juvenile, now 16, was sentenced in Rockhampton District Court last week for 32 offences including robbery with violence while in company, unlawful use of motor vehicles, four aggravated burglaries, six burglaries and committing indictable offences, along with four serious assaults on youth detention centre workers in Townsville while being held on remand for 382 days non-continuously.

The court heard during his sentencing that he had been neglected and abused by his mother, which was magnified when placed in kinship, and he was now under the care of the department.

Judge Jeff Clarke said the presentence report was “very confronting” and the child had never known any positive role models.

“Since the age of eight months, (the defendant was) exposed to chronic physical, emotional and verbal abuse, neglect and exposure to substance abuse, criminal behaviour and domestic violence,” he said.

“In my view, the child protection system has failed to protect you.”

The juvenile told report writers his offending was his way of life, that he had no hope and did not believe he had the skills to change.

He has been diagnosed with intellectual impairment and had seen a speech therapist who stated his inability to communicate effectively was a result of his childhood.

Crown prosecutor Maryam Yousufzai said the defendant was aged 14-15 at the time of the assault offences and car thefts where he enticed police to chase him.

She said the defendant was remanded in the Cleveland Youth Detention Centre in Townsville when, on June 12, 2021, he was told he was being moved into another cell.

Ms Yousufzai said the juvenile threatened to stab officers with a sharpened piece of plastic and made motions towards that, spat on the community service officer, with the spit landing on his hand as well as the face of the other officer, and was verbally aggressive to another corrections officer.

She said the defendant placed a mattress against the door to prevent them from entering his cell.

Ms Yousufzai said the teenager then spat at another officer through a ventilation grill.

“He was heard planning to damage a smoke detector and he did that,” she said.

Ms Yousufzai said he caused $1070 damage after covering the cell camera with toilet paper.

The court heard the defendant was released from custody in Maryborough on August 11, 2021, placed in accommodation by the department of child safety and 17 days later, he burgled houses, took keys and drove off in a car.

“When confronted by the complainant, he said that he was armed with a knife,” Ms Yousufzai said.

“When the (victim’s) partner came, he yelled that he had a knife.”

The court heard the defendant knocked over the female occupant during this incident, which took place about 2am.

“He also threatened to kill the partner and made jabbing motions towards him,” Ms Yousufzai said.

“The female victim threw ornaments at the defendant, missed, until he finally retreated and left.”

She said the defendant was identified and located as he left his phone and shoes at the property.

Over the next few days, the teen continued his crime spree throughout Central Queensland, up to Rockhampton, Gracemere, Yeppoon and Woorabinda.

The juvenile went on to steal a Mazda the next day and a Toyota Landcruiser two days after that and there were recorded videos of him driving the stolen Landcruiser, “taunting police, driving the vehicle to entice pursuit with six other child offenders in the car at the time”.

Ms Yousufzai said the defendant was captured on CCTV the next day at a caravan park, along with the stolen Landcruiser, with other offenders, stealing a Ford Ranger before carrying out a fuel drive-off worth $49.12.

The defendant was spotted again on September 3, 2021, driving the stolen Ford Ranger which was then involved in a single-vehicle crash and the juvenile’s fingerprints were located in the vehicle.

The teenager then tried to steal another vehicle that same day, but experienced difficulty starting it.

He assisted another offender to come to that location and steal a second vehicle – a Porsche worth $160,000.

The juvenile then entered a dwelling on September 5, 2021, stealing two scooters worth $1500 each.

He then entered another house with others and searched a vehicle but did not steal it as they were interrupted.

The defendant also stole $127 of perfume from a pharmacy and was arrested an hour later, riding one of the stolen scooters.

The juvenile was remanded in custody until January 19, 2022, and continued offending while in juvenile detention.

He broke a smoke alarm on September 29, causing the sprinklers to activate and flood the unit he was in.

The defendant placed toilet paper on his cell camera again on November 5, and again placed his mattress up against the door.

“When interrupted by a youth worker, he ripped off his shirt, tore it into strips and threatened to kill himself,” Ms Yousufzai said.

She said the defendant then spat on the youth worker with the spit landing on his face, arms and chest.

The defendant was released from custody and on January 23, 2022, he entered a house and stole keys to a Hyundai.

His fingerprints were detected on the screen door of the house.

The juvenile also entered a house that same night, disturbing the occupant with his flashlight.

He then stole a Ford Fiesta from that home.

The defendant tried to enter another house about 3am that night, walking into the back of the house.

He left the Fiesta and his fingerprints were located inside it.

The juvenile entered another address at Yeppoon through an unlocked sliding door, stealing a clutch that contained $9000 cash, part of which ($4828) was located on him when he was apprehended on January 25.

He had used the cash on January 24 to purchase various items worth $1228 and refuelled a car without paying.

The teenager was also found in possession of 13.4 grams of marijuana.

The juvenile went on to rob another youth detention centre worker on June 4, 2022, by hitting the officer in the back of the head in an apparent attempt to try and break out of the centre.

Judge Clarke asked how much this juvenile’s offending had cost the community, which Ms Yousufzai could not answer.

Ms Yousufzai said the child had been sentenced in court eight times before, mainly for property offences as well as two serious assaults – one assault of a police officer and the other on a person aged over 60.

She said he had previously been sentenced to two Restorative Justice Orders, probation several times, community service orders, detention orders with conditional release orders and twice to detention.

Defence barrister Jordan Ahlstrand said “unsurprisingly” his client’s tragic history resulted in his offending, along with deficits in self-confidence, substance abuse, anti-social behaviours and disregard for authority.

He said his client told the presentence report write his robbery and motor vehicle offences in Maryborough were motivated, in part, by his desire to return to Rockhampton to be reunited with his peers.

Mr Ahlstrand said another report writer stated the child’s “attitude and empathetic ability do not appear to be consistent with his developmental stage as a 16 year-old but rather with his significant cognitive deficits, experiences adversity”, and he had been diagnosed with intellectual impairment.

Judge Clarke said the child told the report writer he ‘had no hope’ and that ‘this is his life. That’s just the way it is, and the writer stated in the report his recidivism was inevitable.

Judge Clarke said the defendant believed he did not have the skills to change, he couldn’t “find a way out of his pattern of offending, where (he) had chosen to fit in with or even be the leader among some of (his) deadbeat friends who are interested in doing the same sort of thing … or because (he) got quite a thrill out of getting around in stolen cars”.

Mr Ahlstrand said a speech therapist wrote in a report the juvenile had difficulty communicating effectively by reason of his childhood and although the child had expressed willingness to engage in therapy, he had not been able to due to ongoing behaviour issues.

The court heard the juvenile had been kept in his cell longer than the norm due to his volatile attitude.

He had written a letter of apology to one of his victims while in detention and had plans to live with his sister in Central Queensland when released from custody.

Judge Clarke was concerned about the “incredibly lengthy” period of time the child spent in presentence custody.

In sentencing, Judge Clarke found the juvenile breached two probation orders and resentenced him to nine months probation.

He was sentenced to 18 months detention, to serve 60 per cent, for the 32 offences before the court last month.

Judge Clarke said given the time the teen had already served, he placed him on a supervised release order.