‘They let me out too early’ says 17-year-old boy after Cairns stolen car burnout rampage

A teenager who reoffended just days after his release from detention said he was let out “too early”, a court has heard.

A teenager who reoffended just days after his release from detention said he was let out of detention “too early”, a court has heard.

The 17-year-old boy, who appeared in Cairns Childrens Court by video link from Cleveland Youth Detention Centre, pleaded guilty to six new charges of unlawful use of a motor vehicle and was sentenced on Tuesday.

Police prosecutor Luay Allawy told the court three of the charges had the aggravating factor of advertisement on social media platforms.

“Some of what was published included stolen cars being used to do burnouts,” he said.

Mr Allawy said the boy came before the court with 26 previous convictions of unlawful use of a motor vehicle and several previous convictions of dangerous operations of a motor vehicle.

Mr Allawy told the court various sentencing actions had been taken on the boy including probation and other community-based orders and periods of detention.

“He committed these offences while on a conditional release order as well as a probation order, and I note it was a mere eight days after the conditional release order he resumed offending.”

Mr Allawy pointed to a pre-sentence report which noted the boy “would shift blame for his behaviour onto others”, but did show some insight telling the author “they let me out too early” and that he felt he deserved more punishment for his previous offences.

Mr Allawy submitted an application for the boy to be declared a serious repeat offender which was granted by Magistrate Sandra Pearson.

The boy’s defence counsel told the court he grew up in a family with a history of domestic violence and aggression and his offending began after an incident in which he left the family home after being threatened with a knife.

“This was really the catalyst to what has brought him repeatedly before the court,” she said.

She told the court his offending was also influenced by his introduction to methylamphetamine at a young age and peer pressure.

Speaking to Ms Pearson, the boy told the court while in custody he would spend two days out of his cell before spending three days in lockdown.

He told the magistrate he felt he was let out too early as he was still “too skinny”.

When asked by Ms Pearson whether this was because of the drugs he answered “yeah”.

He told the magistrate he now felt healthier and had put on weight which helped him “think better”.

The boy was not sentenced under the new youth justice act laws as his offences predated the Crisafulli government’s changes.

He was sentenced to five months detention and the conditional release order was revoked.

Originally published as ‘They let me out too early’ says 17-year-old boy after Cairns stolen car burnout rampage