Kingaroy IGA assault: Youth sentenced for assault and stealing

A repeat youth offender who attacked an IGA store manager with a sign has been warned women’s prison is ‘no place’ she would want to eventually end up.

Kingaroy IGA

A repeat youth offender pleaded guilty to charges of stealing and assault which left a 51-year-old IGA worker with injuries.

A 17-year-old girl pleaded guilty on Tuesday in the Kingaroy Children's Court to one count of stealing and one count of assault occasioning bodily harm while armed in company.

Prosecutor Miranda Hickey said the girl and her co-accused, her 14-year-old sister, walked into the Perries IGA in Kingaroy and “took a number of items off the shelves”.

The 51-year-old store manager followed the girls out of the store to confront them about the unpaid items.

Ms Hickey said the girl pushed a trolley towards the woman before the woman said she would call the police.

The court heard the girl then picked up a sign and threw it at the woman.

“The sign collided with the woman’s head, and she put her forearm up to protect herself, receiving bruising and scratches to her forearm as a result,” Ms Hickey said.

Kingaroy SUPA IGA.

In the woman’s statement to police, she said the girls called her a “white slut” and “racist” and told her to stop following them.

After being arrested, the girl spent 10 days in the Murgon watch house due to the unavailability of beds in the detention centre.

Ms Hickey said the girl had a lengthy criminal history beginning in 2018.

Her first offence was assault occasioning bodily harm when she was only 12 years old, for which she received six months’ probation.

When she was 14 years old, she was sentenced again for assault occasioning bodily harm and received a 12-month probation order.

In November 2023, she received another six months’ probation for “a number of offences”.

In January 2024, she stole items from a liquor store in Cherbourg and assaulted someone where a knife was produced and was later given 12 months probation.

“Last week, she was sentenced most recently on the 24th of June 2024, for which she received a community service order of 20 hours,” Ms Hickey said.

Lawyer Clem Van Der Weegen said the girl had been in foster care since she was eight years old and was in residential care, where she had been doing “extremely well”.

“She is in a much better place … she does have aspirations for the future, she doesn’t want to be back before the court and reoffend,” Mr Van Der Weegen said.

A teenaThe Kingaroy Courthouse. File Photo.

Judge Vicki Loury KC said during the sentencing that spending 10 days in the Murgon watch house was “no place for a young woman”.

“I have to punish you, but I also want to help you because you’re nearly 18, and once you turn 18, if you commit these sorts of offences, you will probably end up eventually in the women’s prison, and that’s no place for you either,” Judge Loury said.

“You have had an unfortunate upbringing, and that’s unfair to you and not something you’re responsible for.

“It’s important that you get a job so you can earn money and buy your own things, and that will make you feel good about yourself.”

The girl was sentenced to eight months probation, and no conviction was recorded.