15-year-old teen and Central Victoria’s fourth most prolific alleged car thief released on bail for the 55th time

One of Central Victoria’s most prolific car thieves has been released on his 55th count of bail as police warn his alleged Bendigo crime sprees are escalating.

A 15-year-old charged with dozens of alleged crimes across Bendigo has been released from custody on his 55th count of bail.

A prolific car thief has been released on his 55th count of bail so he can take up go karting instead of allegedly hooning in stolen cars.

The teen has been hit with 208 police charges since April 2020 – from the ages of 11 to 15, a children’s court has heard — ranging from arson, robbery, home invasions, aggravated burglary, burglary, car theft, dangerous (and unlicensed) driving and violent assaults.

Police allege the teen’s offending has steadily escalated from thefts to violent robberies, allegedly recently attempting to stab a person and threatening to kill another in Bendigo.

Police allege the 15-year-old has made no attempt to comply with court orders.

The teen in July last year avoided jail on 81 charges relating to various crime tears when he was sentenced to a probation order without conviction.

But he was out allegedly reoffending in a matter of days and has since been charged with dozens more offences across Bendigo and Melbourne.

Police say he has made “no attempt” to comply with his bail, a children’s court heard.

A police officer told the court he sat down with the teenager in the Bendigo police station cells when he was arrested in November following another alleged crime spree and tried to talk to him about getting on the straight and narrow.

Police allege the 15-year-old robbed victims with a knife.

The teen told the police officer he wanted to get away from the bad crowd he was hanging around, and would take an offered opportunity to be better.

“We shouldn’t have to be incarcerating these children to prevent further crime,” the Bendigo police officer said.

So he “advocated strenuously” to give the teen a chance and release him on summons instead of locking him up on the spot.

But the teen was allegedly back offending days just three days later “sneaking into houses at night, committing aggravated burglaries and getting around in stolen cars”.

The magistrate said the teen was only telling the cop what he wanted to hear to get off easy, as the teen had done to her on many of the previous occasions he had been brought before the court.

The teen was released on bail so he could go to school.

“He says the right things, at the right times to the right people,” she said.

The teen was remanded on Friday, January 23 after he was allegedly arrested with the keys to a stolen car linked to a string of aggravated burglaries and made a second bail application on Monday.

Police opposed the 15 year old’s bail, arguing his propensity to break into people’s homes and smoke meth and drive stolen cars put members of the community at a “significant risk” of injury or death.

However, his legal aid lawyer and more than half-a-dozen representatives from support services and his school succeeded in getting the prolific youth crim released from custody.

The teen’s lawyer argued the teen had engaged well at school over the last four years and he should be released on bail so to attend where he would receive support from social services and the NDIS on campus.

Police allegedly arrested the teen at a Bendigo address with the keys to a stolen car linked to a series of aggravated burglaries.

Police argued school attendance hadn’t slowed down the teen’s alleged dramatic escalation in offending in that same period, going from less than 20 charges in 2022 and 2021 to 52 charges in 2022, 72 charges in 2023 and 71 charges in 2024.

The court heard Melbourne Youth Justice Centre in Parkville had “not been a good experience” for the teen after he was placed with the older boys when he turned 15.

A support worker said the teen had come to realise “where he fits in” while in prison and the repeat offender knew he didn’t want to be there anymore.

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The support worker said the teen would be taken go karting so he could get his “adrenaline rush” from that instead of driving a stolen car at high speeds.

Despite the police warnings, the magistrate said she would give the teen “a chance”, but warned if he was caught reoffending again he would go back to Parkville.

On intensive bail the teen would be required to attend school everyday and engage with the programs there, attend Youth Justice appointments, drug counselling and comply with judicial monitoring.

He will return to court next week.