Court upholds first convictions for “crime for life” teen girl after carjacking crime spree

A teenage girl who had amassed an extensive history of violent robberies and carjackings failed in her attempt to have her first ever convictions overturned.

A teenage girl who amassed an extensive history of violent robberies and carjackings failed in her attempt to have her first ever convictions overturned, after a court found her many reprimands, good behaviour bonds, probations and community service orders had “all failed to curb her recidivism”.

The decision comes as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk suggests courts should do more to protect the community from violent youths, in the wake of a triple fatal car crash over which a 13-year-old boy has been charged.

“We have given the courts the laws... the courts have the opportunity to use those laws,” she said on Friday morning.

“There is a separation of powers, and I hope that there is a lot of education through the judiciary as well, because people do want everything thrown at this to curb incidents of youth crime.”

The girl was 16 when, in 2020, she and a group of juveniles went on a crime spree, attacking motorists – including a nurse – and stealing their cars.

“By this point, she had already accumulated a significant juvenile criminal history, including for two robberies … and multiple enter premises, stealing and unlawful use of motor vehicle offences,” a Court of Appeal judgment said.

“A restorative justice order, a community service order, and multiple reprimands, good behaviour bonds and terms of probation had all failed to curb her recidivism.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk

The judgment said the girl and her friends confronted a nurse as she walked from her car towards the hospital where she worked at 10pm.

They chased her when she ran from them, cornering her, before the girl shoved her in the chest.

At the same time, a male youth “wrenched her bag away”, fracturing her finger and leaving her unable to work for a month.

“(The nurse’s) vehicle was taken, and, within a few hours, was crashed and abandoned, covered in graffiti including ‘crime for life’, ‘don’t stop’ and ‘FTP’, meaning ‘f… the police’.”

Next, the group overtook a woman driving home from work around midnight and suddenly stopped in her path.

They got out and surrounded her car but she managed to escape by driving away on the wrong side of the road.

Their next victim, another woman who was driving alone, pulled into an apartment complex driveway as they followed close behind her.

“Two females, one of whom was the applicant, opened the front driver and passenger doors and repeatedly punched her head,” the judgment said.

“They fled in her vehicle, which was later found abandoned.”

Their fourth victim that night attempted to lose the group when they began following her car.

But the group sped around her and blocked her path when she stopped at a red light.

They tried to open her door but fled when they found it locked.

The juvenile female offender failed to overturn her earliest convictions. (File picture)

The following January, while on probation and bail, the girl was involved in an attack on a woman in a shopping centre car park.

The girl and her friends had driven to the centre in a car stolen from a house in a burglary the night before.

They fled with the woman’s handbag after knocking her to the ground during a violent struggle.

The Brisbane Children’s Court, in sentencing, heard the girl had had a “dysfunctional, disadvantaged, neglectful and traumatic upbringing”. Her mother was in prison at the time of her sentencing and her father’s whereabouts were unknown.

“She displayed limited remorse for, or insight into, her offending and its impact upon her victims and was unwilling to participate in a restorative justice process,” the judgment said.

She was sentenced to 18 months’ detention, to be released after serving 50 per cent.

Lawyers for the girl sought leave to appeal convictions made against her, including for two counts of robbery in company with personal violence, two counts of attempted robbery in company and two counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle. She was also convicted of two charges relating to the attack on the woman in the shopping centre car park.

Her lawyers argued the convictions were “manifestly excessive”.

But the Court of Appeal ruled there was “no prospect of successfully appealing” based on any of the grounds raised and refused her application for leave to appeal.