Teen steals taxi in Rockhampton and goes on drunk joy ride

The reason for one armed robbery by a 13-year-old Queensland boy is so minor it’s almost baffling that he felt he needed to resort to such measures.

A judge has told a young teen offender to stop “accessing” knives because his crimes get worse each time he uses them.

A drunk 13-year-old boy used a pocket knife to steal a maxi taxi he used to pick up his mates and go on a joy ride around a regional Queensland city, stealing alcohol from two stores.

Now 14, the boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, fronted Rockhampton District Court earlier this month for a raft of offences, including breaching curfew bail conditions and assaulting detention centre staff.

Crown prosecutor Ryan Minuti said the boy was picked up by a maxi taxi on August 23, 2023, and driven to a Rockhampton suburb where he grabbed a pocket knife and held it to the driver’s side, demanded the keys and the car.

“The young person then drove the taxi for a number of hours that evening, collected three other people and drove them to various locations,” he said.

Defence barrister Julie Marsden said when she took her client through the offending and victim impact statement from the owner of the taxi, he told her he was drunk and he was very sorry about what he did and “he shouldn’t drive in the first place”.

When the teen was in custody after the maxi taxi incident, he assaulted two detention workers in March 2024 after being asked to leave his cell for repairs to be conducted.

Mr Minuti said the assaults took place while the workers were transitioning the teen to the ground and he continued to strike at them, including multiple kicks.

He said one victim sustained bruising to the side of his torso while the other sustained bruising to the side of their face and neck.

The teen was released from custody on a conditional release order in April.

He stole a 10 pack of rum and cola from Liquor Legends on April 8, 2024, and bottles of Bundaberg rum from Liquorland at Allenstown on April 7, 2024.

He also stole two cans of deodorant from Drakes IGA at Glenmore on April 8.

Mr Minuti said four days after his release from a youth detention centre, the teen attended a care facility in Berserker and when confronted by a support worker who told him he was trespassing, the defendant produced a large kitchen knife before running away.

He said the boy then hailed a taxi to a motel and did not pay the fare.

The teen stole a bottle of soft drink at a pizza shop, waving a knife at a staff member who tried to stop him or ask him to pay for the drink.

Mr Minuti said the teen told the pizza store employee, “don’t come any closer or I’ll hurt you”.

“You’ve got to stop accessing and carrying knives because as long as you carry a knife, you are going to commit offences which become much more serious by virtue of that,” Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren lectured the teen.

“You walked into another shop and grabbed a soft drink because you were thirsty.

“And because you waved a knife on that occasion, it’s not stealing, it’s an armed robbery.”

The court heard the boy, who was in the Department of Child Safety’s care, had been diagnosed with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and impulsive-reactive behaviours.

He has a lengthy and escalating juvenile record, the court heard.

Ms Marsden said her client had a new level of motivation to change his behaviour including staying away from certain negative peers and that he liked the stability of living with a particular male guardian who discussed football and the army.

A spokesperson from the Department of Youth Justice said support for the juvenile had increased by an extra five hours a day, five days a week and he had voluntarily engaged with the Forensic Child and Youth Mental Health Services.

The child pleaded guilty to two counts of armed robbery, two of serious assaults, one of unlawful use of a motor vehicle, one of fare evasion, one of common assault, three of stealing and three breaches of bail.

He spent 166 days in presentence custody in youth detention.

The teen was placed on an 18 month probation order and was released from detention immediately.

Convictions were not recorded.