Ethan Joseph Moratti: Teen TikToker in court for chilling home invasion

A popular teen TikToker from Redland Bay has landed in court after being the “ring leader” in a horrifying premeditated home invasion in Brisbane’s west.

A popular teen TikToker from Redland Bay has landed in court after being the “ring leader” in a horrifying premeditated home invasion in Brisbane’s west.

Ethan Joseph Moratti, 19, pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court on Thursday to armed robbery in company, burglary by break/in company wilful damage, possessing dangerous drugs and obstructing a police officer.

Redlands Bay man Ethan Joseph Moratti, 19.

The court heard Moratti had been the “ring leader” in a premeditated home invasion in Taringa at 12pm on May 3 last year.

Moratti allegedly drove himself and his two co-accused, who the court has been told were armed with weapons including a baseball bat, sticks and a hammer, to the townhouse of a man who owed him an outstanding debt for drugs.

Upon their arrival, the man they were looking for fled the home over the back fence before the group allegedly broke in through the front door and smashed some of the windows.

The court heard there were four people still inside the home when they broke in who went upstairs to seek refuge.

The group of alleged home invaders then began demanding multiple items from the house and items belonging to the complainants inside, including two mobile phones, a Bluetooth speaker, a scooter and a pair of white Nike shoes.

The court heard when one complainant asked why they had to take their stuff, one of the co-accused replied, “We’ll bash your heads in.”

The group went on to destroy and damage the townhouse with their weapons, and during the course of their rampage, they destroyed the downstairs walls, kitchen door, airconditioning unit, TV, fridge, windows and flyscreen doors, the court heard.

This occurred for about 10 minutes before the group fled the property in Moratti’s car.

The court heard police executed a search warrant at Moratti’s home in Redlands on May 5 last year and found 89 grams of cannabis and two water pipes.

Police asked him to hand over his phone, but he refused and tried to smash it repeatedly before telling police to “get f***ed.”

Moratti’s lawyer told the court shortly after his client went on to make full and frank admissions to police about his principal role in the offending.

He said Moratti had also made significant efforts to stay clean from drugs since then and had produced multiple clean tests to show that.

The court heard the 19-year-old, who’s TikTok account has over 30K followers, had an offer of employment to start work in the construction industry.

“He also has some interest in conservation with a prospect of potentially pivoting to that down the track and possibly requiring some university studies,” he said.

“I’m told he’s become quite a viral sensation online in respect to some videos on marine conservation.”

He also highlighted that Moratti was still extremely young, and the offending didn’t involve actual violence or injuries to the complainants.

Moratti was placed on probation for three years and ordered to complete 120 hours of community service. No convictions were recorded.