Zaine Seiler: Wendouree teenager robs 14-year-old at knifepoint

A Wendouree teenager pulled a hunting knife on a child to steal his hat in a chilling incident, a court has heard.

A teenager armed with a knife robbed a child outside a Ballarat shopping centre because he was “asked to”, a court has heard.

Wendouree’s Zaine Seiler, 19, appeared in Ballarat County Court on Friday to plead guilty to an armed robbery charge stemming from an incident outside Stockland Wendouree Shopping Centre on March 26, 2022.

The court heard Seiler approached a boy, 14, and his friends while they waited at a bus stop.

Seiler asked the boy how much he was selling his cap for but the boy replied it was not for sale.

Seiler then produced a small hunting knife and said he had “two seconds to kick it over”.

He snatched the hat from the boy’s head and ran back through the car park, handing the cap to another man, who hid it.

The victims went to Ballarat Police Station and a search warrant was later executed at a Wendouree home.

Police found the cap during this search.

Seiler later entered the police station for an unrelated reason wearing the same hat and sunglasses that he had on the day of the robbery, the court was told, and he was arrested in the foyer.

He reportedly said he committed the crime because he “got asked to”.

“And I do what I’m asked to do,” he said.

The court was told Seiler felt more comfortable in jail than he did on the outside.

Judge Frank Gucciardo said: “It’s concerning when a young man says that he finds himself better in jail than he does out in the community, so imposing a community corrections order might actually be worse for him than it is to keep him for another period of time inside to be stewing and brewing with all the other excellent people that are out there.”

He went on: “What do you do with a 19-year-old who has those sort of problems?

“It’s clear that if he’s comfortable in prison, prison is not going to rehabilitate him very effectively; he needs much more than that.”

Seiler was remanded until his next hearing.