Teen convicted of fracturing baby’s skull during Alice Springs home invasion returning to Red Centre
The man has been ordered to complete a ‘project’ during his time in Alice Springs, where only nine months ago he fractured an eight-week-old baby’s skull during a horrific home invasion.
A man convicted of fracturing a baby’s skull will return to the town where he committed the crime, after being ordered to spend 12 hours a week working on a “project” while in the community.
The man, now 18, was 17-years-old when he swung a metal fridge handle and struck Nicole Siguenza when she was holding eight-week-old Antonia Siguenza during a horrific home invasion in Larapinta, a suburb located on the western fringes of Alice Springs.
On Tuesday, the man – who cannot be legally named – was convicted for his role in the 2024 assault and robbery, which NT Supreme Court Justice Sonia Brownhill classed in the “mid range” of seriousness.
“I take into account your youth, noting that young people do not have the same decision making capacity and judgement as older offenders,” she said on Tuesday.
Justice Brownhill sentenced the man after he pleaded guilty in August to aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, unlawfully causing serious harm, theft, and aggravated assault.
He was one of two teens who robbed the Siguenzas in December 2024 during the horrific invasion which required little Antonia to be flown to Adelaide for treatment for her fractured skull.
On the day of the offending, the court heard the two teens were drinking when they ran out of booze and devised a plan to rob the Siguenzas to get more.
In total, they took about $2100 worth of goods – including five beers – in the home invasion, which has left little Antonia taking anti-epilepsy medication.
“The baby Antonia, had swelling to her forehead, bruising and a graze 8 to 10 centimetres in length. A CT scan indicated a bruise on her brain with a small amount of blood in the space between the brain and the brain membrane,” Justice Brownhill told the court.
“Ultrasounds revealed bruising on one side of the brain and bleeding on both sides of the brain and in the space between the brain and surrounding tissue.”
At the end of August, the man’s 17-year-old co-conspirator was given two years in prison, backedated to his December 2024 arrest, with a non-parole period of a year.
On Tuesday, the 18-year-old was also given two years in prison – but Justice Brownhill ordered it be served via an intensive community corrections order in Alice Springs.
She ordered the man return to Alice Springs as soon as he could to serve the order which comes with 12 conditions, such as being the subject of electronic monitoring, being barred from drinking alcohol, and that he will leave Alice Springs once the “project” is finished.
As part of the order, Justice Brownhill said the man would work on a “project” for 12 hours a week during the duration of his sentence.
The court heard the man was remorseful for his involvement in the home invasion, and he’d written a letter to the Siguenzas to say sorry.
“You said you were going to change your life to show Ms Siguenza that you are sorry,” Justice Brownhill said.
In Alice Springs, the man will stay at a residential rehabilitation facility.
His order will expire in September 2027.
Originally published as Teen convicted of fracturing baby’s skull during Alice Springs home invasion returning to Red Centre
