Cairns court: Psych report ordered as teen sentenced for ‘insidious’ attacks on girlfriend

A teen’s sentence for a number of brutal assaults on his ex-girlfriend has been delayed after a judge ordered a new sentencing report and psychological assessment.

Crown Prosecutor Hannah McNeale told the court in one attack the boy threatened to post nude photos of her to social media and damaged her phone, before pushing her to the ground and kicking and stomping on her head. Picture: iStock

A teen’s sentence for a number of brutal assaults on his ex-girlfriend has been delayed after the Judge ordered a new sentencing report and psychological assessment blasting a “shocking failure by Lotus Glen to properly conduct itself”.

The 18-year-old, who cannot be identified as his offences occurred when he was under 18, pleaded guilty to a string of domestic violence offences from earlier this year including a number of assaults, wounding, strangulation and distribution of intimate images.

Crown Prosecutor Hannah McNeale described the teen’s offending as “insidious, controlling and possessive behaviour”.

Ms McNeale told the court in one attack the boy threatened to post nude photos of her to social media and damaged her phone, before pushing her to the ground and kicking and stomping on her head.

In another instance the boy chased the girl with scissors and tried to stab her before she fled to a relative’s home where the boy again stomped on her head numerous times and beat her with a chair until she was unconscious.

In a victim impact statement the girl said she felt shame after her nude photos were shared on snapchat by the boy but felt sympathy for the boy as she felt his behaviour was in part driven by his life circumstances.

Ms McNeale told the court the boy lost three family members in an accident when he was 14 but said while the event caused significant grief there was no diagnosis and no expert evidence in regards to its impact on his behaviour.

The Cairns Courthouse on Sheridan St.

The prosecutor told the court the boy presented with 59 previous convictions including domestic violence offences against six different women in his life.

“On one occasion he was upset his mother wouldn’t buy him drugs and he told her he would burn the house down with everyone in it and he had previously held knives to his sister’s neck, and stabbed his aunt in the back with a broken bottle,” Ms McNeale said.

Ms McNeale described another “terrible” assault on the boy’s partner.

“He pulled her to the ground, stomped on her head six to seven times and dragged her into another room when family members attempted to intervene,” she said.

“he then hit her head against the wall a number of times before she ran out of the room, he then chased her with a knife, before she was further assaulted at a relative's home where he hit her with a metal pole and strangled her till she lost consciousness.”

Sentencing Judge Dean Morzone said the offending set off “alarm bells of some brain difficulties” and referenced the “inadequate” pre-sentence report prepared before the matter came to sentence.

“There is something we don’t know about him where a pre-sentencing report is so woefully inadequate.

“It’s a shocking failure by Lotus Glen to properly conduct itself.

“I’m sentencing in a vacuum, I am concerned there is an underlying psychological factor.”

The boy’s defence counsel Tim Grau told the court the boy is a very different young man than he was at the time of the offending after being moved to an adult prison and noted that he had not been interviewed or assessed by a psychologist before the pre-sentence report was prepared.

“He has a new appreciation of where his life is at and he realised he needs to return home to assist with the care of his siblings,” Mr Grau said.

Mr Grau said the boy was deeply affected by the loss of the male role models in his life in 2021 and noted the offending began soon after that tragedy.

Judge Morzone said the boy was “dangerous” but he could not sentence him based on a two year old report adjourning the matter till January 30 and ordering Lotus Glen “attempt to comply with the previous order made” and prepare a pre-sentence report including an assessment of the boy’s education, physical and mental health and a psychological assessment including the impact of the childhood trauma he experienced.

Originally published as Cairns court: Psych report ordered as teen sentenced for ‘insidious’ attacks on girlfriend