Dangerous teen driver’s plea after school zone crash that injured 8yo
The family of a little boy who suffered a serious leg injury has rejected a move toward restorative justice for a teenager who drove dangerously in a school zone, resulting in a crash.
Police & Courts
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A teenage driver who collided with an eight-year-old schoolboy while driving dangerously through a school zone has pleaded guilty.
The little boy suffered serious injuries in the collision at Scarborough on June 14 last year when he was struck by a car on the way home from school.
The Childrens Court of Queensland on Thursday heard a 17-year-old boy had been behind the wheel and driving dangerously through a roundabout at school pick-up time when he hit the child.
The victim suffered injuries, including a fracture that without surgical intervention would have led to permanent loss of function in his right leg.
The driver, now aged 18, cannot be identified because he was a juvenile at the time of the offending.
He pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing grievous bodily harm during an arraignment before Judge Deborah Richards on Thursday.
Defence barrister Kerala Drew asked that a pre-sentence restorative justice conference referral be ordered by the court.
The victim’s family have indicated they will not participate in restorative justice conferencing.
Ms Drew said the referral could still be made without their participation and that Youth Justice had assessed him as being suitable for that process.
“He’s an 18-year-old with no criminal history,” she said.
“He’s expressed to me on a number of occasions his sincere and genuine remorse for his actions. In my submission a pre-sentence referral should be made to allow his views and his understanding of his offending to be placed before the court as part of the conference process.”
Judge Richards ordered a pre-sentence report be prepared and for restorative pre-sentence conferencing to take place.
The teen, who is on bail, will be sentenced in September.
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